Trust
by FartFace3000
Summary: A collaborative between me and Supahlolman9, author of "Move On"! Sort of. He's helping with ideas, but I'm writing it all. This doesn't have any real need to be rated M right now, but I'm gonna add in some lemons later. So if you like lemons, stay tuned and read anyway! I also did the cover art myself, and I think it looks awesome.
1. Rose

_**PLEASE READ**__this first paragraph. First off, this novel is NOT for little kids. Like, you can read this if you're like me and you're at LEAST thirteen years old. Now, older-ish folks, for those of you who don't want to read around 65,000 words before the first lemon takes place, I insist you at least read the short summary at the end of every chapter. These summaries are also for readers who want to read everything, but had no clue as to what the heck just happened in that chapter. Not only that, but they're also for readers who want to read everything, but haven't read this particular story in a while and need to get a fresh reminder of what the heck just happened. But please, just read the whole thing. It's actually really good._

_More intro to come, but until then, enjoy the **grammatically correct** novel._

_**My profile: 4547565  
Supahlolman9's profile: 4014558**_

* * *

HideOut Burgers was one of the most popular fast food restaurants in Burgville. The restaurant was like a pub; it was where people met new people and old and had a good time munching down on meat and fighting Pokémon battles in the small arena room. It was where families could come to eat good food of all kinds. It was the first restaurant to go on your first date. It was even the site of a few proposals, and a lot fewer break-ups. It was the place where everyone in Burgville came together and socialized without smartphones. It was the place you would want to be.

Markus Clement worked here year-round at the age of fifteen, since government policy to require public schools had been abolished and he needed to make extra money for his poor family. He was very medium-sized; not too skinny, not too chubby, and not as tall as you'd think, but still over five and a half feet. He was the employee of the month pretty much every month, and loved his job and his co-workers, both human and Pokémon. He possessed no Pokémon of his own, since he had no need or desire for any except within the restaurant.

At seven o'clock, Mark's shift was far from over; he usually left at ten. However, as the winter months were long, the days were short and clouds ruled the skies much of the time. During a very slow day, Mark came back from serving the only two tables with customers and began talking with some of the other employees. He was just getting into a punning spree when he felt a rumble in his pocket and heard the banana phone ringtone.

He pulled out his cell phone and opened it. "Hello?" he said in a bored tone, not expecting anything more than a solicitor.

"Mark? It's me, Mom! You need to get back home right now!" She sounded anxious.

"What? Um, okay! What's going on?" he replied with a rather worried tone.

"There's a warning for floods in Low Bay. We're gonna need your help when it does."

"Ok, mom. I'll come home right away," he said apprehensively before hanging up. He turned to the Charmeleon that was always grilling endless patties. "Jimmy Jimbo?"

"Yes…?" it said in a gloomy, bored tone.

"I need you to cover my shift."

"Fine," it said, then resumed burning patties and started mumbling in a cynical manner. _"So… many patties… murdered… I killed them…"_

Mark slipped off his employee's apron and pulled on his hoodie and backpack, then bid farewell to his more human co-workers. "I've gotta go, guys. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Mark!" they said as he ran out the door.

When he stepped outside he saw the usual homeless man attempting to steal his bike. "HEY! Get out of here!" He yelled, pushing the hobo away. He began to unlock the chains that kept his trusted bicycle from being stolen. As soon as the locks and chains were off, he set off to the exit of town, speeding by the many buildings of Burgville.

HideOut Burgers was pretty much in the center of town, so he took a good ten minutes to reach the outskirts. Mark lived in Low Bay, a large neighborhood of small houses that all had residents with jobs in towns nearby. The only tourist attraction was the beach against Lake Lundi. When it rains hard, the lake has the potential to flood a lot of the houses. Burgville was one of the towns around Low Bay, and you had to cross a mountainside pass to travel between the two. On top of that, the pass fell down to a river below, which led to Lake Lundi.

When the road turned to gravel and Mark started to ascend the mountain, mist and fog began to ensnare the hills around the town, making it more difficult to see as time went on and Mark's elevation increased.

"Ugh… this fog! I can barely see ten feet in front of me!" The ground started to level off again at the mountainside. This road had been cut out of the mountain long ago, but only travelers and a few from Low Bay used it now. The fog had become so thick, it was almost as if someone had taken a massive amount of dry ice and dumped it into the river.

Mark was too concerned about the possible flooding at home to notice how fast he was biking. He was speeding too fast to see hardly anything in front of him, until a shadow of a dark brownish-green came slightly into view. A tree. He swerved and braked, narrowly missing the trunk. His relief didn't last long; it wasn't half a second later that he felt a huge bump on a huge root. He lost control and fell off his bike. The bicycle lay in the middle of the path, but Mark was no longer on the path. He had fallen down the steep, dirty hill and was tumbling quickly to the river below.

He landed sideways right next to the raging stream of water, but with a SNAP. He stumbled over, his back searing with pain. He screamed. Hard. A few tears leaked out of his squinting eyes. He couldn't react when his phone slowly leaked out of his pocket and into the river.

"No, no… I need that…" he cried. After the initial shock of throwing out his back, he fainted. He lay next to the stream of death, rain mixing with the tears running down his face.

Nearby, a Riolu was attempting to return to her mountainside cave when she heard the deafening scream. "What was that?" She thought, getting a tad bit scared. "It sounds like all the happiness and joy has just fled out of something…"

Walking a bit further, she began to see and hear the river through the fog. She looked around for her makeshift bridge, which was a tree that had fallen over during a storm. After cautiously crossing its slippery surface, she trudged along the muddy bank towards Mark. She didn't notice him until he was at her feet, by which point she gasped in shock.

"Oh my goodness… a human!" Her immediate reaction was negative, and she stepped back. But then she thought. "Why is he lying here? He looks like he's been hurt… his face and arms are bloody."

She'd never seen a human this close before, since her mother told her never to trust them. "Humans are always, always, always trouble. You stay as far away from them as possible," she would always say, but the Riolu didn't listen to her memories. She knew that it would eventually be carried away by the stream. She couldn't leave a seemingly innocent life be thrown away.

"I can't leave you here. I'll take you back to my place." He did not respond to her. She tried to pull him by the legs, but he barely moved. He was just too heavy to pull. She pulled with all her might, but no more than an inch of ground was covered, and in the opposite direction thanks to the mud.

"I'm not going to leave this human. It will not die!" she said determinedly. (Due to the invention of jeans, she couldn't figure out which gender he was.)

She sat and thought for a few minutes, thinking of how she was going to get Mark to the cave. She started messing with his backpack, and eventually noticed that it wasn't actually part of his body. She pulled it off of his arms slowly, but with little difficulty, and threw it to the side.

"There we go! Now I can pull it!" She walked a good long distance with Mark dragging behind before reaching her small cave. 'Small' meaning enough space to sleep, eat, have a curtain-door, and create a fire. She snuggled Mark up against a wall sideways, and sparked up a fire with some dry stones and logs she had stored.

"Wait…" she said quietly, "What if it's faking injury and only wants to capture me? Was mother right?" The Riolu gave a massive punch to his face and his head flopped over. "Well, there's no way it's faking it now."

There was a cooler that had been littered in the forest full of cookable items in the far corner of the cave, which surprisingly seldom got broken into. The Riolu grabbed a few strips of bacon and held them over the fire for a long time. Her paws burned afterwards, and the bacon was undercooked, but it worked.

After about an hour of her facing Mark's body from the opposite side of the fire pit, he began to wake up. "Ouch… where… am I?" he said softly, so softly that the Riolu could not hear. He began to straighten out his back. "Ow!" He reached for it quickly, trying to soothe the pain.

"Did you finally wake up?" said the Riolu. Mark's eyes finished focusing and looked straight ahead.

"Apparently so… wait. Did you rescue me? What are you?"

"I found you on the riverbank. Yeah, I guess you could say that I saved you. I'm a Riolu. You are a human, right?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'm not gonna capture you. I gotta get home now."

"…well, I found you nearly an hour ago."

"Oh, crap. What do I do? My parents are looking for me by now. I should probably call them on my…" he reached into his back pocket but found nothing. "…Oh, yeah. The river…"

"What?"

"My cell phone. It's gone."

"What's so bad about that?"

"A cell phone allows you to talk to people from a long way away, and the river took it. This is the best time to have one, when I'm hurt or lost, but I don't."

"That sounds like it could help. Well, here's some bacon. It's not very good, so don't get mad at me for this." She handed him a few strips of undercooked bacon, and he took them gladly.

"In this condition, there's not much that could make me not like this." He took a bite, and she looked at him with anticipation for a review. "It's a lot better than I expected."

"Wow. Thanks. I didn't like it much at all."

"Do you have any more raw strips? I know how to cook them properly."

"You do? Could you show me?"

"Sure." The Riolu tried to give him the strip, but he winced in pain when he stuck out his arm. "Ow! I think I'll just have to tell you." She obeyed and held it over the fire. "It's best to use a pan or something to cook meat, but holding it there should work, too. Just keep it steady for five minutes like that, and turn it slowly as you go."

"Wow, thanks. I never knew… I guess that's why one side always tasted better than the other."

"Thank you for taking me away from the river." There was an awkward pause in time.

"My mom told me never to trust humans."

"I can see why she would say that. There are lots of bad humans out there, but I'm not bad. At least, I don't think I'm bad."

"Just because I saved you doesn't mean I trust you."

Mark was a little bit shocked by this statement, but then realized that he probably wouldn't trust a troll if he saved one. "Hey… I don't even know your name. What is it?"

"My name's… Rose."

"That's a beautiful name."

She ignored his compliment. "What's your name?"

"My name is Markus Clement"

"Markusclement?"

He laughed. "No, Markus - Clement. It's two names. But just call me Mark."

"Oh. That's a nice name, I guess."

"I don't like it much."

"May I ask about your past?"

"You mean my childhood? Or how I got here?"

"Both, I suppose."

He shifted into a more comfortable position. "Well, as you might have guessed, I fell down the mountain onto the riverbank and now my back hurts like crap. But the reason I fell was because I was biking too fast and lost control. I couldn't see in the fog, and I hit a tree root."

"What's 'biking'?" interrupted Rose.

"Oh, sorry. It's a way of quick transportation. It's like riding on someone's back, except the bike is made of metal and rubber 'feet'. Anyways, I got a call on my cell phone from my mom that I needed to get back home in case of flooding. Our neighborhood is really close to water, and we get a lot of flooding there when it rains. I just hope it isn't flooding right now… my family might be needing my help but I can't do anything about it."

"Well, I hope that they're okay."

"Thank you for being sympathetic. Now, about my whole childhood… I was born in a distant city, Greenstone, and came to live here shortly afterwards. I grew up with my parents educating me (the government used to _make_ kids go to school), and I learned how to be a great cook from my mom. When I became thirteen, I signed up for a cooking contest in Burgville, a town, and won first prize. One of the judges there was the manager at HideOut Burgers, a restaurant in the town, and insisted that I work there. And even though I'm almost sixteen, I still do. And I love my job there."

"That's a very interesting story."

"What about you?"

She frowned. "I… don't like my past."

"Why not?"

"I've been alone my whole life. All except the first few weeks of it."

"What happened?"

"Well, my father abandoned my mother a long time ago. I think Mom said his name was… Andrew. I'm pretty sure it was. Anyways, my mother… I loved her so much… I didn't think she would abandon me."

"She abandoned you?"

"That's a friendly way of putting it." Mark looked at Rose in awe, trying to imagine something worse than that. "She gave me to some poachers."

"What? Why would she do that?"

"I remember every word of their conversation. She didn't want to give me to them, but she had a choice. She could've gone with them herself or handed me over. And she decided to sell me."

"That's horrible!"

"After she gave me to the men, they drilled a hole in her ear to protect her from other poachers. They took me away, and she was left with herself. I just hope she regrets what she's done more than anything in the world."

"It's people like that who make me sick in this world. Both those men and your mother."

"Those poachers…" she shuddered. "I watched as they severed the limbs of other pokémon with valuable materials on their bodies, and listened to the deafening shrieks until they were silenced completely. I haven't trusted anyone since."

"That must've been terrifying to watch. And I can understand that you don't trust anyone anymore… but how are you still alive?"

"I was scheduled to be removed of the stones on my hands, but whoever's in charge decided it was best to wait until I became a Lucario, by which point I would have what they really want: Lucario spikes."

"What's so special about those?"

"They're made of the finest steel on the planet, and there's only about three pounds' worth in every Lucario, and there aren't too many of us."

"Well, then, what's so special about those hand stones?"

"They're valuable, too, but they're made of ivory and there's even less on us Riolu. Luckily, they didn't realize that I can't evolve unless I'm happy. I was eventually bought by a scientist who paid a huge bargain for me. He released me into the wild again, but with a brand on my heel. See, look." Rose lifted her leg to reveal a big black mark on her pink foot. It looked like a scar more than a brand. It was a seal, from a city in a distant land.

"You came from Greenstone too?"

"I guess so."

"That looks painful."

"It doesn't hurt anymore. And it'll protect me from poachers. But ever since then, I've been all alone, and I've always felt cheated and abused."

"I pity you. I'm sorry you had to go through all that."

"I've gotten tough from everything I've seen." There was a silent gap in time that might as well have been a canyon.

"Rose."

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could help me find my family? I'm sure they're worried sick. It's like, nine at night."

"I don't know. Would they try to capture me?"

"No. If you tell them where I am, my dad can help me back home."

"…and… I'll be alone again." Rose hung her head and closed her eyes just as the fire in the pit died out completely. "Mark, I want to stay with you. You're the only friend I've ever really had. And I don't want to throw away an opportunity to have a family again."

"Aww… you're lonely," Mark said in a sweet accent. "Come here." Rose got up from her side of the fire pit and slowly walked over to Mark. She was very hesitant; she had avoided physical contact with him since he'd woken up. "Come on, give me a hug." Rose reluctantly came closer to his outstretched arms. It took all his strength not to retract in pain. He slowly and softly grabbed her by the back with both hands and embraced her. "You won't have to be lonely again. You can come with me."

A few tears started to leak out of her eyes. "Mark… thank you." She returned the hug around his neck. They stayed in that position for a few seconds, then parted. "Your skin is so warm…"

"And your fur is warm, too."

"But, it's so… wet. And ugly."

"Nonsense. I think you look pretty just the way you are."

"You're joking. I've lived outside my whole life. I stink and I'm wild."

"You do stink. But you smell like a rose."

"So roses stink?"

"No, it's figurative language. I'm saying that in reality, you do stink, and you are wild, and you are wet, and your fur is… ugly."

"Gee, thanks."

"…But it's what's inside you that makes you beautiful."

"Gee, thanks… really."

"Really, all you need is a bath and you should look pretty on the outside, too."

A minute passed, then she stood up. "I guess I'd better go find your parents, then," she said, and a shadow of separation filled the cave. "Where would they be?"

"Do you think you can find the path from which I fell?"

"I think so. Does it cross the river downstream?"

"Yeah. It's the wrong fork, but if you climb a little ways up the mountain and then take the left fork, it'll take you to Low Bay, my town. My house is literally the first building you come to."

"Okay… I guess I'll get going. I'll try to come back as fast as possible. I don't want to keep you waiting."

"You don't have a choice."

"I'm sorry. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Rose." She pulled back the curtain of trash bags she had found and left into the rain and darkness. "I just hope you won't be lonely again." Mark's back didn't cease to pain him, but it hurt worse when nothing was there to distract him.

Rose started her journey in the dark. The rain was much colder than it had been before, although it had slowed since the late afternoon. She slipped a few times in the mud while running, narrowly missing the river. It took her about twenty minutes to find the gravel road, and only ten to reach the fork. But she did not have to travel any further; she heard voices and footsteps coming down from the mountain. There were two figures, obviously human, different heights. The taller one, a man, was carrying an odd contraption. The other, a woman held a lamp. Rose cautiously came up to them.

The woman responded. "Hey, look, John! It's a rather shabby little Riolu. What're you doing out here?"

Rose ignored her question and asked the woman her own. "Do either of you know a boy named Mark Clement?"

They both gasped. The man quickly spoke. "Have you seen him? We're his parents!"

"Yes, he sent me to look for you. He needs your help and strength."

"Of course, of course! Show me the way! Meryl, could you take his bike back?"

"Yes, John," she said, with tension and hope in her voice.

As Meryl left down the left fork, Rose turned to John. "Come, follow me."

"Okay." They walked quickly. It wasn't two seconds before John pulled out a flashlight.

"What is that?"

"It's a flashlight. Makes it easier to see."

"I see."

"What happened to Mark? Is he hurt? Is he safe?"

"I don't know the details, the most I know is that I found him unconscious by the river and his back is hurt really bad." A stone dropped in John's stomach.

"What? But if his bike was at the mountainside path, that means… he must've fallen down the mountain!"

"Ouch… Well, I don't know if you noticed, but that slope is, well, a slope. He's doing fine, apart from feeling a constant pain in the back and bleeding a little."

"Why did we tell him to come home so quickly? Maybe he wouldn't have been in this mess if I hadn't told Meryl to get him to come home so fast…" John started to tear up a little bit, which sort of annoyed Rose. After the long hour of waiting that Mark had to go through, they arrived at the tiny cavern.

"Dad!"

"Mark! Thank goodness you're okay!"

"Yeah, well… mostly."

Rose observed most of this reunion. "Heh, heh. Yeah… let's get you back home right away." John took Mark by the shoulders and back and attempted to carry him out of the cave without making his back hurt any more than it should. "Does this hurt at all?" he asked in confirmation.

"Just a little, don't worry, I'm fine." John got Mark out of the cave in a stable position and bid Rose farewell. "Well, Rose, thank you so much for helping Mark."

She was a little shocked. "Hey, wait," she said. "Mark! Hold on! Remember what we discussed earlier?"

Mark had nearly forgotten. He said with self-surprised eyes, "Oh, I totally forgot! Dad, wait."

John stopped and looked at his son. "What?"

"Do you, or, can you, possibly… let Rose come with us?"

"Um… Mark… I don't know if we can-"

"-please, Dad! She's been living alone her whole life! She needs warmth and family! I promised her that I would give them to her!"

John thought about this pretty hard. 'Do we really have money for this? I mean, I want to thank her, but she can't just come barging in on our territory. I understand that she has been lonely, but…' He gave his answer. "Well, I guess… she can… come with us…"

Rose smiled happily and hugged John's leg. "Oh, thank you, Dad!"

"-but you're going to pay for everything that she needs, okay? We don't have much money as it is."

"Yes, sir! That's fine, I'll just work extra!" The three abandoned the cave at the foot (more like the toe) of the mountain. When they safely got back on the path, Mark asked, "Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Is everything at home okay? Did it flood?"

"No. It didn't. Everything's okay, except for you. I'm sorry that we ushered you home so quickly." They walked a little further, got to the security gate (a couple of guards with a coffee machine), and passed through to the very first house in the neighborhood.

John entered, waited for Rose to pass through, and shut the door. He sat Mark down on a rugged but comfy couch. John asked Mark, "How's your back doing? You think you'll do okay?"

Mark winced. "This hurts pretty bad, but… I think I'll be better in a few days."

Rose looked in fascination around the human residence. It was quite bare, but to her it was decorated like a palace. There was a small TV in one corner of the room, in front of the couch. There was a few paintings and pictures of family members, most of which had deceased already. A few cracks could be spotted around the room, simply from age. The kitchen table was small and wooden, and had a flowered vase on it. The kitchen itself was nothing more than a tall donut desk equipped with a sink, microwave, oven, dishwasher, and cupboards.

Meryl came over to Mark on the couch, unaware that Rose had entered. "*gasp*! Mark! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, mom. I'm fine. My back hurts real bad, but…"

"What happened to you?"

"I… uh… fell down the mountain and threw out my back."

"Oh, that's terrible!" She tried to hug him, but he pushed away and grunted in pain.

"Please, don't!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

"It's fine, it just hurts."

Rose came around the sofa and into Meryl's view. "Oh! Is this that Riolu?"

"Yeah, that's me!" Rose said.

"What're you doing here?"

"Mark and John said I could stay."

"Did you, John?"

"Yes, I think it would be better for her if she does."

"Well, I… wasn't expecting this. Do we even have enough money for her?"

"I'm making Mark pay for all her needs."

"Oh, well, then… I guess that's okay. But if she causes trouble, then I'm not going to be happy."

"Don't worry, I'll be good," said Rose, "You want to touch my fur?"

"Sure, why not?" Meryl took her hand and extended it to Rose's shoulder. It was still wet, and gave Meryl a gross feeling. She pulled back slowly. "Oh, wow… um… that's… nice. Although, you look pretty dirty. Maybe you should take a bath. You too, Mark. While I'm thinking about it, let me get you that snack I made earlier."

"I'll try to. My back still hurts real bad, but I think I can…" He tried to get up. Slowly, he pulled his feet up and onto the floor and sat hunched over.

Just then, a door opened loudly and a man rushed in. He ran up to Mark, slapped him on the back. "Mark! Where've you been?" he exclaimed.

Mark couldn't scream this time, the pain was too intense. He fell on the floor, and there was a big _snap_ in his back again. John, Meryl, and Rose all gasped and looked at the man in anger. "What? I was just saying hi."

Meryl, with some oatmeal cookies and eyes of fury, glared at him. "Stuart, Mark's back was thrown out today!"

"Oh! Sorry about that…" The man that had unintentionally attacked Mark was none other than his Uncle Stuart. He wasn't too much older than Mark, at age twenty-six, and he wasn't much taller than him, either. He was pretty wild, and his maturity level was probably below Rose's. And although his judgement wasn't very good, he was actually the smartest and could remember the best in the family.

Mark rose slowly but calmly. He stood up perfectly straight, and turned to Stuart. "Hey, I think that actually did the trick. My back feels just fine. Thanks, Stuart." Mark began to eat away at one of the cookies on the plate.

"See? He's fine!" Stuart beamed. Rose, John and Meryl were amazed that such a foolish act could have cured Mark so quickly, but they gladly accepted it. He noticed Rose. "Now, what's this?" He looked at Rose and came close to her face. "This looks like a Pokémon… a Riolu, unless I'm heavily mistaken."

Rose, a little nervous, stared right back into the gaping blue eyes and said, "Yeah, you're right. I'm a Riolu, and my name's Rose. Who are you?"

"Ah, a female Riolu! You're pretty cute! My name's Stuart, and I'm Mark's uncle. At your service!" He gave a bow with his head.

She giggled. "You're kinda funny."

Mark butted in. "Well, now that my back feels better, I'm going to go ahead and take that bath." He walked out of the room with a little jerk. "Maybe it's not completely better." Mark went to his room and got some clean clothes, then started the bath.

Rose jumped"What's that noise?" she questioned.

Stuart laughed. "That's just the bath water, silly! You can't get clean without water!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea," she said sarcastically.

After a few minutes, the water stopped and Mark undressed and got in the tub. A few minutes into washing his body with soap, feeling the occasional wave of pain in his back, the door opened. The shower curtain was up since the bathroom had no lock. He asked nervously, "Who's there? Is that you, Mom?"

"No, it's me." It was Rose. "I need to take a bath too, remember?" Mark looked behind the shower curtain to find the shabby Riolu standing in the middle of the small lavatory, staring at his head. "Can I come in, too?"

"Um… well, I'm… uh… completely naked."

"What's wrong with that? I'm completely naked, too. I'm always naked."

"Well, humans are supposed to wear clothes in front of other people. And Pokémon."

"Oh… okay. I'll just wait outside, then."

"Well, I guess if you really want to, then you can come in… but give me those, first." Mark pointed to a black tuft. Rose took a few paces closer to the toilet and picked it up. It was a pair of Hanes boxers.

"What's this?"

"…underwear. Keeps me not-naked. Just hand them to me." Rose obeyed and handed them to Mark. He closed the shower curtain and Rose heard water splashing and bumping against the bath, then Mark poked his head out again. "Okay, you can come in now. Come here."

Rose stepped closer to Mark, and allowed him to pick her up and lower her into the water. She reacted to the warmth in pleasure. "Oh, wow… this feels really good."

"Yeah, it's really warm."

Rose turned around to face him and sit on his lap when she noticed the boxers on him. "Oh, so that's where it goes…"

"Mmhmm." Mark noticed dirt particles and such become dispersed into the water as Rose moved. "Wow, you're pretty dirty. Like, really dirty. Don't worry, I'll clean you up." Mark took a bottle of shampoo and squirted a huge amount of gloop into his palms.

"What's that?"

"It's shampoo. It's supposed to clean hair, but it should work on fur, too."

"It smells nice. I can't tell what it smells like, though."

"It's called Melaleuca, but who knows what it's made of. Just try not to eat it or let it get in your eyes."

"Okay, Mark."

Mark, with the creamy white substance on his hands, started to rub and scratch Rose's arms. "Does this hurt at all?"

"No, I think it's soothing."

"Good." Once her arm had been cleaned, the water had turned slightly browner and her arm color had become a less dull blue. "See, look at your arm. It looks a lot better."

"Wow. It does look different."

"What next?"

"How about my head?"

"Okay. Just close your eyes." Mark took the remaining shampoo on his hands and kneaded Rose's aura sensors, scratched her ears, and gave her noogies. "Okay, keep your eyes closed and put your head under the water. Can you do that?"

"Yeah." She obeyed and submerged her head. Mark quickly rubbed off all the cream and raised her back up. "Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yes." Mark took her other arm and began to clean it. It too became spotless, and he moved on to her torso. "I'm not touching you anywhere weird, am I?"

"You mean my chest?"

"Yeah."

"No, not until I'm a Lucario."

"Okay, good." He continued to rub and scratch, when he felt that her stomach was very thin. "I never realized, but… you're really skinny. Like, too skinny."

"Well, you can't eat a whole lot when you live in the wilderness. There isn't much food to go around. Do you have lots of food here?" Mark resumed cleaning her.

"I'm sure we have more food than you've ever seen, but there's not much. My mom and I are both great cooks, so it kind of makes up for the lack of food.I work at the best fast food restaurant in Burgville, remember? That's how I knew how to cook the bacon."

"What's 'fast food'?"

"Just a type of place where people can buy food. And you can get food fast there."

"I see. Could you take me there? I'd like to see what goes on there, and I'd like to eat some there as well."

"I was planning on taking you there tomorrow anyway. No one will be at home except Stuart, and I don't think it would be wise to leave you here with him."

"Why not?"

"He's, uh… got a little mental problem. He's really smart but stupid at the same time. He's also really unpredictable and has mood swings. So I don't feel safe if you're in the house alone with him."

"But I can fend for myself. I'm a Pokémon, remember?"

"It doesn't matter to him. No matter how much you hurt him, he won't care. He'll only get angrier. I don't want you to stay here, okay?"

"…okay."

Mark finished scrubbing her chest and back and started washing her legs and tail. When he washed her feet, she giggled in the tickling sensation. He had to force her feet to the ground to wash them, and her arms flailed around to make up for it. When Mark finished, he sighed and said to Rose, "Finally! All clean! Man, you really put up a fight!"

"Sorry, it just tickles so much!"

"Well, do you want to get out now?"

"I don't know… it still feels so warm. I'd kind of like to just lie here."

"Why don't we drain the water, and lie here till it's all gone? That's what I usually do."

"Sure, why not?" Mark pulled the plug and water slowly began to fall into the drain. "My fur is so clean and pretty, and it doesn't itch anymore. I've never felt this way before… thank you, Mark."

"You're welcome. I liked cleaning you. It was… like bathing a really calm cat. I'll have to brush you, too, if you want to keep that fur soft and clean."

"That sounds pretty relaxing, too." Mark took his hand and pet Rose on the head. She closed her eyes in the pleasure and purred. "I love you, Mark. Thank you for all that you've done for me today."

"I love you, too, Rose. Thank you for saving me." Rose flung her arms around Mark's neck after he said this, surprising him. "Rose, I… please, you've thanked me enough."

Rose let go of Mark. "But...I want to give my love back to you."

"Not everything in a friendship is equal. That's what makes it a friendship." The water finished draining. "Come on, let's dry off." Mark picked up Rose as he stood, and set her on the toilet lid. He opened a wooden white cabinet and pulled out a single, green towel. He dried her off first, and her fur became all ruffled. He then dried himself and wrapped his waist with the massive cloth. "Now, you go wait in the living room. I need to change." They opened the door and she went left, and he went right.

Mark came back into the living room a minute later, dressed for bed and with a hairbrush in his hand. Rose was on the couch, watching the TV with Stuart and John, mindlessly talking to them in fascination of the television. John spoke with a disturbed look to Mark. "Mark? Is it true that you and Rose took a _bath_ together?"

"Dad, it's not like that. I kept my clothes on. I just cleaned her. I cleaned her like you would've cleaned me when I was five. And I wore underwear. Okay?"

"Okay. Just making sure."

Mark turned to Rose. "Rose, let me brush you."

"Yes, Mark." He sat down next to her and started to brush her fur with the hairbrush. Lots of blue and black fur was collected and she sighed in pleasure. Soon her fur was straight and smooth, and she stroked it in even more pleasure. "This is the best it's felt tonight. Thank you again, Mark."

"You're welcome. It does feel smooth." They stayed up for a few minutes longer before they got tired and bored of watching the news (John's turn to pick the channel). Mark noticed that Rose began to lower her eyes and lean against him more heavily. He, too, had begun to feel weight in his eyelids. "I think we're gonna say goodnight. I'm really tired, and so is Rose."

John, Meryl, and Stuart all replied. "Goodnight, Mark. Goodnight, Rose." Rose couldn't even sit up straight anymore, so Mark picked her up and held her over the shoulder as they went to his room. In the room, Mark laid her down on the twin bed and she stretched in comfort.

"What's this?"

"That is a bed," said Mark. "It's where you're supposed to sleep."

"Well, it's _REALLY_ comfy." Mark laid himself down in the bed.

"I'm sure to you it is, but to me… it's tiny and cramped. Even without you."

"It's like heaven to me."

"Yeah… you don't mind if I, you know… sleep with you, right?"

"It's warmer with you here. I don't mind one bit."

"Good." Mark pulled the thick, wool covers over them and held her closely. "Goodnight, Rose."

"Goodnight, Mark. I love you." Rose hadn't noticed before now, but she actually really loved Mark. She wanted to be with him… forever. She couldn't think of any reason why she wouldn't. At that time she had not been overwhelmed by hormones and such, but she did want him to always be there and love her in the way that she loved him. To love her unconditionally and eternally.

* * *

**Summary** (for lazy bums):

Markus Clement (Mark), a 15-year-old boy, worked at a fast food restaurant. On his way home one day, he tripped on a tree root and fell down the slope of a mountain. A lone Riolu rescued him from washing away into the vast waters of Lake Lundi. Her name was Rose. Mark was okay a few hours later, and she decided to come home with him, where they met Mark's parents and uncle, Stewart. Rose also began to love Mark, though he did not even consider her an option, her being both a Riolu (not human) and a Riolu (a little kid, although she was 13).


	2. Burgers

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* * *

Mark woke up through a dreamless night and found himself in the last place he remembered. Rose was just out of his reach; she'd moved during the night. The storm clouds from last night had passed over the lake, and you could only see a tiny sliver of them over the horizon. Mark looked up at the quietly ticking clock on the wall. It read 8:30. Mark started work at 9:30, but he decided to get up and get dressed. He slowly stripped the night clothes off his body, quickly and quietly, and changed into a polo and jeans from his closet. When he shut the closet door, Rose was no longer laying in bed. She was on the bed, staring at him and looking confused and embarrassed.

Mark blushed. "Oh, dang it, Rose. Did you… see anything?"

"I did."

"Oops. I thought you were asleep."

"It was pretty long, wasn't it?"

"What? Look, I don't wanna talk about this. That's really awkward. You just saw me naked, and it may be nothing to you but it's really weird to me. Come on, let's go to breakfast." Before Rose had any time to say anything, Mark picked her up and carried her out.

Meryl, John, and Stuart greeted them kindly. "Here, have some hash browns," said Meryl.

"Wow, they look really good, Mom." Mark pulled up an extra chair for Rose and sat in the one next to her. Meryl passed the hash browns to Mark, who swept some onto his plate and then onto Rose's.

"What's this?" she asked, curious.

"These are hash browns. It's basically fried potatoes. Just eat it." Rose picked up a small amount of the shavings with her paws and took a bite. She chewed, then grew a face of disgust and swallowed.

"Those tasted weird."

"Were they good?"

"No, not really."

"Well then, here. Try this." Mark took his fork and stabbed a fried egg in the center of the table. It flopped over onto Rose's plate and he continued to eat. "It's a fried egg."

Rose sniffed it. "It smells gross."

"Yes, but it tastes good."

Rose scooped the egg up and took a small bite out of the white. She cautiously chewed it and swallowed. The egg didn't appear to cause her distaste, so she took another bite. The heat soothed her tongue. "This tastes a lot better," she said in the spaces between chews. In fact, it was so good that she couldn't stop eating it until it was gone.

Mark watched her munch away the last bit of white. "Was it that good?"

"It was delicious. I haven't eaten something this good in my life. Could I have another one?"

"Of course." Rose stood up on her chair and reached over to the plate in the center of the table and took two eggs before Mark cut her off. "Okay, Rose, that's enough."

"But I'm sooo hungry!" she said with a childish pry in her voice.

"You're going to eat a lot at the restaurant today, so I don't want you to eat very much. Okay?"

"Okay…" She quickly ate up the eggs. Mark smiled in the joy of seeing her so happy, but was still confused why she commented on the size of his dick.

"Meryl, what time is it?" asked John.

"It's almost 8:40," she replied.

"Well, that's my cue. I have to go to work. Bye Meryl, bye Stuart, bye Mark, bye Rose." They returned his goodbye. He went out the door after they said their farewells to him. John's car started outside and the sound of the sputtering engine left.

Rose's eyes widened and she shuddered in fear. "What's that sound?"

"That's John's car," said Meryl.

"That's a scary sound."

"It's just the engine. The engine pushes the car to wherever he wants."

"That sounds cool."

"It's very cool. Unfortunately, it costs a lot of money to buy gasoline, or fuel."

Not really wanting to further the conversation, Rose politely switched back over to Mark. "Yeah, that's neat…hey Mark! When are we gonna go to work?"

"It's just about time for us to go. Are you ready? We can go right now and get there early."

"Yeah!"

Meryl was not expecting her to go to work with Mark. "Oh, is Rose going too?"

"Mmhmm! I sure am! Come on, Mark, let's go!" Rose hopped up and pulled Mark by the arm and out of his chair.

"Whoa! Slow down, there, Rose (dang, you're strong)!" Mark took Backpack. Mark equipped Backpack. There wasn't much in there, just a spare apron and some deodorant. "Okay, now we can go."

"Bye, Mark. Bye Rose," said his mother.

"Bye, Mom." He and Rose exited the tiny house. "How about you get in my backpack?"

"Okay," said Rose enthusiastically. Mark opened the backpack and she jumped in. He zipped it most of the way up, leaving enough space for Rose to look around and use her arms. "It's really warm in here."

"Yeah, I put my backpack next to the heater, so it should be."

Mark unlocked his bike and started to ride. The wind rushed past their faces and Rose grinned in the joy of reaching such high speeds. When they got higher up the mountain, Mark slowed down, stopped, and dismounted.

Rose jumped out of the backpack and asked why. "Mark? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just… I'm kind of scared. This is where I fell off yesterday."

"Are we going to walk?"

"Just until I feel safe. I don't want to trip over the same root again."

"I understand. Can I ride on your back?"

"You can get in my backpack. Is that any different?"

"I guess not, but I'd like you to give me a piggyback ride."

"Well…"

"Please?" she said in an irresistible tone.

"I suppose so." She gave a smile and climbed up his back. He strapped the backpack to the bike and walked up the mountainside path with it. "You know, you seem quite enthusiastic about me, don't you?"

"Well, I haven't had anyone care about me this much since… my mom sold me. Maybe I'm being foolish, relying on someone like a parent again."

"Rose, I'm not your parent. I'm your friend. But that doesn't mean that you can't trust me. After what you've told me, I would never abandon you. No one would ever want their friend to experience something that traumatic twice. I love you, and don't let anyone tell you different. You can trust me."

"Okay. I will trust you, Mark." He walked along the path for a minute or two in silence while Rose twirled his hair in boredom and imagination before they came to it. The root. Deep bike tracks could still be seen in the damp dirt before them. "This is the place," Mark said. Rose looked up.

"This doesn't look like the town."

"No, this is the place where I fell off."

"Oh…"

He clenched his teeth. "I've never hated a tree so much before in my life. If I had a lighter, I'd burn it to the ground."

"That sounds kind of dark for you…but it's a tree."

Unknown to Mark and Rose below, at that moment there was a Pidgey flying overhead. He noticed Mark and thought it'd be funny to mess with him. "A human… I haven't seen one of those in a while. I'll have some fun with him!" He changed his flight velocity and came swooping down at lightning speeds. He slowed down and landed calmly on his head, right in front of Rose.

"Hey, you! Riolu! Move it!"

Rose was perplexed but had no time to react; the bird pecked her arms and she fell to the ground. Mark was very confused. There were spikes on his head from the bird's small talons, and his Riolu had just fallen off his back.

"Rose! What's going on?" He flung his hands over his head, but the Pidgey pecked at them. Rose slowly got up and winced in pain. The Pidgey started to peck at Mark' head while deflecting his palms. Mark ran straight at the mountainside face with his head aimed at it, but the Pidgey jumped up at the last second and Mark hit his head hard on the mossy rock.

"Ha ha ha! Humans are such idiots!" the bird cackled while hovering just above him. Without warning, a jab of pain hit the Pidgey. Rose's fist dug into his stomach, and he was hurled a few yards in front of them. He recovered and flew away. "Damn Riolu! What's she got on me?"

Rose, with the rage of protection roared, "Don't you ever call Mark an idiot! And don't even think about hurting him!"

The Pidgey did not respond, but she knew that he heard her. He flapped off into the forest below. Mark was squatting next to the wall, rubbing his head. Rose came next to him and comforted him. "It's okay, Mark, that Pidgey won't bother us anymore."

"Thank you, Rose. Dammit, that was annoying as a piece of crap!" Rose went up to him and started to rub his head as well. He looked at her frightened face and felt guilty. "I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't mean to swear. I just do when I get angry." Mark pulled her in for a hug. She gladly accepted it.

"Okay, let's just go to work." Mark picked up the fallen bike and got on. "Now that I'm past the root, I think I feel safer."

"I sure hope so. I wonder what that Pidgey's problem was."

"I have no idea, and I honestly don't care." Rose got in the backpack and he started to ride again. Mark broke several times, not wanting to go too fast, and soon they were in town. They passed the plaza, a few shops, a pokémon gym, and a gas station before reaching HideOut Burgers. There was a teenage girl outside, crossing her arms and staring at Mark furiously as he neared.

He parked and locked his bike, then came up to her and greeted her. "Good morning, Becky!"

"I am not in the mood, Mark. Today was your morning shift, and you didn't show up!"

Mark looked dumbstruck. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot!"

"I had to work all by myself, and those Pokémon weren't being very helpf- what is that?" Her rage subsided when she noticed the shocked Riolu. "Is that a Riolu?"

"Yeah, she is."

"Aww… she's so cute! Can I pet her?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her?"

"Can I pet you, Riolu?"

"My name's Rose. But yeah, go ahead." Rose hopped out of the backpack and onto the pavement. Becky knelt down and scratched Rose's head.

"Your fur… it's so warm!"

"Thank you. It used to be really dirty, but Mark washed it last night."

"Did you, Mark?"

He blushed and replied. "Yes, I did."

"That's so sweet of you!"

"Mmhmm. Well, let's get inside. Come on, Rose." Becky stood up and Mark picked up Rose. The rest of the crew was not there yet, apart from Sadie and Guy. Some customers had already arrived, sipping their coffee and chatting while watching a battle between some preteens and their pokémon. Sadie and Guy threw an annoyed look at Mark before noticing the Riolu in his arms. They both raised their eyebrows.

Sadie was a charming girl. She was the cutest girl, the youngest, and the nicest. She wore no makeup no matter where she went, and said hello to almost everyone she had ever said hello to before. She was a little bit shorter than most girls, being almost exactly five feet, but her shape made her look taller. Sadie was a waitress, and everyone loved to be served by her. She was also the first girl that Mark had ever wanted to date, but she never accepted his request.

Becky was a charming girl, too, but in a different way. She wasn't cute, exactly, but more… hot. She was the eldest of the girls who worked at HideOut Burgers, being seventeen. She put several highlights in her hair and put makeup on during work, even though it was against the restaurant policy. She was probably the main reason why older teen boys came to the restaurant. She usually waited tables and managed the others, but she cooked a little bit and was the trainer of the pokémon chefs.

Guy looked like the type of guy that you would not want to meet. He had tattoos, gauges, and a golden nose ring that shimmered wherever he went. He was the main waiter to the coffee section of HideOut Burgers, since little kids tended to get scared of him. In fact, that might be the reason why he did those things to his body. Even Rose was a little bit creeped out. But deep down, he was a diligent young man who had good intentions and the perfect mouth for serving coffee to adults and teens. He, too, had asked Sadie out. But maybe she would've said yes if he hadn't asked her out on the same day he got an ink Seviper coiled around his arm.

Guy asked, "Oh, so did you find a new recruit for Becky?"

Mark was not expecting such a strange question to be greeted by, but answered it anyway. "Good morning to you, too, Guy. No, this Riolu is my new pet. Let's just say it wouldn't be the best idea to leave her at home."

"Wait. Let me guess… Stuart?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Guy, what's your beef with Stuart? You've seen him here before. He's not that bad," said Sadie.

"He's not bad, but he's stupid."

Mark snapped at him. "Guy! Shut up about Stuart!" A few customers looked over at the group of arguing teens.

"Alright, sorry!"

"I'm sorry about this morning. I completely forgot that I had morning duty. Did it mess anything up?"

Sadie answered him. "No, it did not. Thankfully, there were hardly any customers so we didn't have much trouble."

Mark sighed and scratched Rose on the head. "Good."

"So what's your Riolu's name?"

"Her name's Rose."

"Aww… she's so cute! Can I pet her?" asked Sadie in almost the exact same tone as Becky.

"Yeah, sure. Go on, Rose." Mark dropped her and she walked over to the bar where Sadie was sitting. Sadie's arm extended to Rose's head and she brushed it.

"Oh my goodness! She's so… soft!"

"Thank you!" said Rose.

Sadie pulled back in shock. "Oh my gosh, I forgot that Riolu can speak!"

Mark commented on her bad memory. "Yeah, as if any other pokémon can't speak." They all laughed a little bit.

Guy tried to pet her as well. Rose pulled back a little bit, trying to see the Triforce of Courage that had been tattooed on the back of his hand. She was a little bit shy as well, but allowed him to touch her and he scratched her yellow collar. "Oh, dang! She is soft!" he exclaimed. "So how did you get her?"

"Well, I didn't catch her or anything… she was wild before today."

Becky and Sadie widened their eyes. "Wild?" they said in unison.

"Yeah. In fact, she saved me. After I left last night, I fell off my bike and landed near the river. I threw my back out, like, _REALLY_ bad, but Rose took me to safety and came home with me after she found my parents."

Guy asked Rose, "you did that, Rose?"

She nodded. "I did."

"That's pretty amazing. It's a miracle that you found him, I guess." Guy looked at Mark. "But how is your back completely fine now?"

Mark responded. "The same answer as earlier. Stuart. He gave me a huge slap on the back and that seemed to the trick. Hurt like crap, though."

"The typical Stuart."

Sadie scoffed. "Guy, you're so… insensitive."

They continued to talk about random stuff while Rose got pet before an explosion went off in the battle room. Rose ran back to Mark in an instant, but the four employees simply flinched and kept talking. Mark looked over in the room and had an epiphany. "Hey, where's Beat?" All the others looked in the battle room and wondered about the same question.

Beat was sort of the "gym leader" of HideOut Burgers. He was also one of the few adults that worked there. However he was a "Stuart" in his own way. A more sophisticated way. He managed the pokémon fights and announced winners and commentated. He was like a high school coach, but one that teaches history or science. He had that bodybuilding look, and always spoke real deep and dramatically. He usually arrived when they opened, but for some reason, he wasn't there this morning.

Becky used her Assistant Manager Powers to command Guy. "Guy, you fill in for Beat since he's not here right now. Mark, you take over the coffee shop. As cute as Rose is, we don't need fur in our kitchen."

"Yes, ma'am," Guy and Mark said together. Guy went through the glass door to the battle area and settled down the practicing preteens to begin a legitimate match.

Mark picked up Rose and walked over to the coffee bar, which was decorated in a warm, orangey brown and had several relaxing works of art relating to coffee. He set her down on the counter next to the grinder, which was away from the steamers, brewers, pressers, and other boiling hot machines. "Now try not to touch anything. It'll be a little boring, but we can still talk, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," said Rose.

Just then a nerdy boy with curly red hair and such a pored up face that it would make lice think they were scaling a mountain for every zit biked up to the restaurant and rushed inside, then bowed to Becky. He said in a raspy, geeky voice, "Good morning, Becky, Sadie. Am I late?"

Becky answered. "No, Nigel. Why don't you help Mark? Beat isn't here, so we've got no one to vouch for Michael until he gets here."

"Okay, yes ma'am, Becky!" Becky laughed as he ran enthusiastically behind the coffee bar. "Hi, Mark! How are you?"

"Um, great."

Nigel was the sort of boy that girls would date just because they felt sorry for him. He was the exact definition of nerd. He pulled out books from his baggy, plaid shorts and read them whenever he got bored. He had no pokémon but carried a pokédex that was near completion. Mark didn't like him because he was so strange, and would pull pranks on him whenever he could (not much). Nigel was also very forgiving, so he liked all the other employees. He could do any job that was assigned to him, and got it done as fast as possible.

Nigel spotted Rose on the counter. "Oh my geese! Is that a Riolu?"

"Yeah, she's…"

"I've never seen one this close before. Is it yours?"

_"She_ is mine, yeah."

"Do you mind if I… take a few pictures of her? Not… like THAT."

"Um… I don't know. Why don't you ask her yourself?"

"Oh, sorry. Well, um… Riolu… uh… (Hey Mark! What's her name?)"

"Rose."

"Rose! Do you mind if I take a few photos of you?"

Rose didn't know what a photo was, but assumed he was just asking for information and was another "Stuart," but in yet another way. "Um… yeah, sure, why not?"

He pulled out an instant camera and took a few pictures of her looking blinded by the flash. She covered her face when he was done and Mark got angry in silence. He waited for them to develop and looked at them. "Perfect!"

"What WAS that? It hurt my eyes!"

"It's just my camera. It takes pictures of whatever you want and then you can show them to people. Here, look!" Nigel showed her the pictures of herself with tiny pupils, closed eyes, or a giant shadow.

"That's cool, I guess. I don't look very good though."

"Nonsense! Those were some of the best photos I've taken!"

"Well then your other photos must suck _balls,"_ muttered Mark at an extremely low level. Nigel put the photos away and a few customers came up. Mark wasn't in the mood to deal with them, so he let Nigel do so.

There was a man and a woman, who looked like they were dating. Nigel noticed this and asked them, "well, hi, there! I'm Nigel, and what would _you two_ like from the Coffee Corner?"

The man responded. "You know that this young woman is my sister, right?"

Nigel looked a little shocked but came back decently enough. "Oh, yeah. I knew that. I was just messing around." Mark scoffed in the background.

"OK, well, I'll take a cappuccino."

"Alright. And for you, ma'am?"

"I'll have a cappuccino as well."

"OK! Any special sort of bean you would like?"

"No, just the most basic cappuccino you guys got," said the man, and then he and his sister sat down at the table farthest away from the bar.

"Did you get that, Mark?"

Mark said, "No, sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"I need two 'most basic' cappuccinos."

"Okay, so… normal?"

"Mmhmm."

Mark took a sack of "normal" coffee beans from a cabinet and showed them to Rose. "Here, Rose. Smell this." He opened up the bag and heavy fumes of java thrusted themselves into Rose's nasal passages.

She jumped backwards and covered up her snout. "Oh my gosh! What is that?"

Mark laughed in her surprise. "Those are coffee beans. They're used to make a drink called… well, coffee."

She unveiled her nose and took a less strong waft of the scent. "It actually smells pretty good. Kind of bitter, but… good." He poured about half a gallon of beans into the contraption next to Rose. "What's that?"

"I thought I might show you the grinder. You might want to cover your ears."

She obeyed and blocked them, then scooted away from the grinder. He held the lid on and turned a knob. A great noise filled the room and Rose jumped yet again. He shook around the grinder, attempting to mix the beans. After a minute or two, the noise stopped and Rose uncovered her ears.

"See, look what happened to the beans?" He showed her the inside and she saw a black-brown powder.

"Wow, what makes that do that? And why is it so loud?"

"Hold on, I'll show you." Mark poured the powder into a new bag labeled "Caffeinated", then showed the inside of the grinder to her. She saw a sharp, round blade inside that was covered with the remnants of slaughtered plants.

Mark poured about the same amount of grounds as before into a new machine with a vessel of water attached to its side. He was about to turn it on when he noticed the plastic jug of water was almost empty. Rose asked him yet again what it was.

"This is the coffee presser," Mark explained as he filled up the jug at a sink, "It takes the coffee grounds and presses hot water through them, and that creates the coffee drink."

"Ah." He turned on the presser and a less loud noise filled the room. They waited a few minutes as the coffee pressed the grounds and a few more new customers ordered frappuccinos, mochas, and espressos. They all looked at the cute Riolu next to the grinder when they passed. When the pressing stopped, Mark took a Coffee Corner foam cup and held it under the presser's nozzle, flipped a switch and a black liquid seeped out. Rose sneered. "Ew…"

At that very moment, Nigel jumped up behind Mark in an attempt to mess around. Mark freaked out and he spilled the hot coffee on his arm. The boiling temperature was too much for him to bear, and he fell to the ground. "Oh my gosh, Mark! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"JUST GET ME A TOWEL!"

"Uh, okay!" Nigel obeyed as Mark contained his screams on the floor. Rose hopped off the counter and tried to comfort him.

"Mark, Mark, are you okay?" she said, and Nigel came back with a dry washcloth and rubbed it on Mark's arm. The coffee was gone, but a burn was still there. Rose instantly felt something inside her. A power. Adrenaline. Aura. She instinctively grabbed his arm. "Hold still." she said calmly. He looked at her with squinted, wincing eyes but obeyed. She placed her paw on the red burn and a blue light emanated from her palm. Light blue flames funneled out and essentially burnt away the burn. Mark's pain was gone. He looked at his arm when Rose let go, as did Nigel and the other employees. The red mark had turned to just about the exact color of his skin.

"Rose… what was all that?"

"I don't know… I shouldn't have been able to do that."

"My arm… you healed it!"

Nigel chimed in with his superior knowledge of pokémon. "That was aura, you know, right? Only Lucario can manipulate it, but I've read that Riolu sort of can as well when they are close to evolving."

"Well, then, I guess you're going to become a Lucario soon, Rose."

Rose was filled with joy and hope. She would finally be able to move on and evolve. Mark stood up, reassured everyone that he was okay, and Nigel apologized to him again. Mark put Rose on the counter and whispered a thank you. He finished making the orders and Nigel took the drinks to the customers, apologizing for the delay.

* * *

Around two o'clock, Rose began to complain. "Mark, I'm hungry!"

"Yeah, me too. What time is it?"

Nigel annoyingly answered. "1:56:03 PM!"

"Thanks… Nigel…" he said awkwardly. "Wow, it's really late. Come on, Rose, let's have a lunch break. Why don't you go sit down in that seat?" He pointed to a tiny table for two. She nodded and obeyed. "I'll be back in a minute."

Mark went into the kitchen and looked around for some spare burgers. He came back out a minute later, as he said he would, with two cheeseburgers, a basket of fries, a Coke, and a Sprite on one tray. "What's all this?"

"Lunch." He took a plastic knife and cut one of the burgers in half and gave it to her. "Here you go. This is the famed cheeseburger with ketchup and, well… cheese."

"Why don't I get a full one like you?"

"Because it's very unhealthy and you might throw up if you eat the whole thing. And I'm a lot bigger than you, so I need to eat more."

"People actually eat something that'll make them throw up?"

"Well, not very often. Some people eat here every day. I don't know how they survive, but… yeah."

Rose picked up the burger half and took a large bite out of it. Her mouth instantly fell in love with the taste of cheese, ketchup, meat , and bread combined. Her mouth watered as she spoke. "This… is… amazing!"

"I'm glad you like it."As she had done that morning, Rose gobbled it up in under half a minute. She reached for the other half of the cheeseburger, but Mark stopped her. "Nope!"

"But… I'm still hungry!"

"You eat some fries first. If you're still hungry after that, then you can eat the other half."

"Fine…" She plucked a fry from the basket and ate it. She didn't like it as much. "These aren't too good… they're like the hash browns."

"They _are_ both from a potato. Well, then, dip it in this." He took a plastic bottle of ketchup at their table and squirted out a massive blast of red paste. She took another fry, unsure, rolled it in the goop and then ate it.

"This tastes much better." Mark and Rose ate out of the same basket of fries until they were all gone. "So do you think you can still eat that burger?"

"No, I'm completely stuffed. Thank you again, Mark." She struggled to get up with the half pound she had just gained, lumbered over to him and hugged him. Yes, again. Mark poked her belly.

"Wow, your tummy's gotten bigger."

"Is that good?"

"I guess… You've never eaten this much before, right?"

"Nope. Never."

"Well, then, yeah. It is good." Mark got up. "Well, I gotta get back to work."

* * *

Rose spent the remainder of the time watching the pokémon battles taking place in the gym when there was one. There were only eight or so and they were fairly short, but she got inspired by them and imagined herself as a Lucario, beating up other pokémon with bones and spikes, and Mark being her trainer. She had asked Mark if he had any interest in being a trainer but he declined. He said he loved his job at HideOut Burgers and even though becoming a trainer would be much more profitable, he never imagined of leaving.

At about nine o'clock, the last people left and the gang got ready to close up shop. They switched the sign on the door and Becky's Wartortle (and other various pokémon of hers) cleaned the tables and floors while the others cleaned up the kitchen. Mark could tell that Rose was bored out of her mind, so he decided to go ahead and leave early. He exited the building, surprised and pleased to not find a hobo at his bike, put Rose into his backpack, and rode off. He didn't pay much attention to the place where he fell off the mountain, but slowed down until he passed it.

When he came inside, Stuart opened the door. Mark was not greeted by his usual warm welcome of too many hugs. Instead, he was greeted by his uncle looking sad, and his dad on the couch with his face in his palm with his mother comforting him. "Hello?" he asked. His parents looked up at him as Stuart shut the door behind him and Rose. "Is everything okay?"

His dad had tears in his eyes and gave a huge sniffle. Meryl spoke to Mark. "Mark… I don't know how else to say it…"

Fear struck Mark. What was going on? "What?"

"Your father's lost his job. We have no way to support our family."

"What? How did this happen?" He set his backpack down on the heater and sat down on the couch with Rose in his lap. She began to fall asleep.

"I don't know," said John, "the boss just… kicked me out. I guess there were new crew members that appeared to be better than me."

Mark laid his head back. "Well, then, what are we going to do? I can't make nearly enough money to pay for this house, even."

"You'll have to get a new job. Either that or you'll have to ask for Stuart to work at that… restaurant, what's it called? Anyway, AND you'll have to ask for a raise. For both of you."

"Yeah, the manager wouldn't like that very much." Mark thought hard about some way to make money for the family, whatever the cost. He stroked Rose and remembered what she had said and done that day. She'd protected him from a pesky bird and had healed a burn on him. Not only that, but she found a great solution. _'Mark, have you ever considered being a pokémon trainer? I could be your first pokémon!'_ "I've got it."

"What?" asked Meryl.

"Mom, have you ever considered me being a pokémon trainer? Rose could be my first pokémon."

"NO. Absolutely not."

"Why not? It's a high-paying job, it's fun, and I get to travel around! And I'm more than old enough! If Ash Ketchum could do it at twelve or thirteen or whenever, I should be able to as well."

"That's the problem. I don't want you to travel around. I want you to stay here, in Low Bay."

John butted in. "Now, wait a minute, Meryl. I think this is a great idea. It's true that it's a worthwhile job, and I guess it's fun, and Mark will have to travel around. But we MUST keep ourselves in this house. It doesn't matter if he has to leave, we must stay stable. And besides, I think it would be a great idea for him to see other parts of Andara. He could even go to Greenstone."

That last comment on his birthplace seemed to do the trick for Meryl. She stuttered a little bit and then sighed. "I guess you're right. We need money."

"I guess…" said Mark, "I'd better get ready to go, then. If we need money fast, I'd better pack my bags and get going. The only problem is, I'm going to need a little money before I can start. At least enough for some food and some equipment."

"Like what kind of equipment?"

"Pokéballs, for one, a pokédex, and then tournament entry fees, too."

"How do you know all this?"

"Talking to customers, watching the HideOut battles, and Nigel."

"Oh, well… John, how much money can we spare?"

"Not much. Forty, maybe sixty dollars," John said.

"I think pokéballs cost ten each, and a pokédex is, a… lot more than that. Maybe thirty."

"Well, we'll give you the money. It'll be kind of weird for us, having our _son_ pay us to live… at least until I get a new job. But I don't know when that'll be."

"It's fine, dad. As long as you three are okay, I'm fine paying. How much does it cost to pay for bills and such?"

"A shocking amount… about $800 a month."

"For _this?"_

"Yep. There's heating, water, electricity, food, and of course there's a bunch of almost completely useless insurance that you have to get to drive a car. If it was just the house, it'd be maybe $450 per month."

"Well, I hope I get enough money."

"I do too. How much do you expect to get?"

"I don't know… nothing at first. But even a small tournament can turn me out with about 150, I presume."

"So if you win three in a month, then we should be fine?"

"I guess so."

"And we just paid our bills from March, so that gives you pretty much exactly a month. No pressure. Seriously."

Unfortunately, Mark did feel the pressure. "Well, it's decided, then. I guess I'll start my journey tomorrow. I'll have to tell the HideOut guys that I'm quitting, and I won't be back in town for a long time."

"I suppose so."

Mark slowly held up the now asleep Riolu and stood up from the couch. "Well, good night."

"You're going to bed?" asked his mother.

"I've had a pretty crazy day, and it's really late."

"Well, aren't you going to tell us about it?"

Mark sighed exaggeratedly. "Well, I got my arm burned."

"What? Let me see!"

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not there." Meryl thought he was just joking around, but then saw the slightly non-caucasian splotch on his arm. "Rose healed it with aura."

"She can do that?"

"It's supposed to mean that she can turn into a Lucario soon… GOOD NIGHT."

"Good night, Mark," the three said.

Mark laid Rose down on the bed and got in himself. He tried to go to sleep, but no matter how much he tossed or turned, he could not. _'I can't believe I have to leave so quickly. What will being a pokémon trainer be like?'_ It took him until he couldn't think to go to sleep, by which point he had been laying in the same position for two hours.

* * *

**Summary** (for lame dudes):

Mark went to work with Rose the next morning. On their way there, a wild Pidgey attacked them but Rose shooed him off. There, Rose was able to use aura to heal a burn, which meant she would evolve soon. When they returned, Mark's dad had lost his job. So he had to make money by travelling the region of Andara... as a pokémon trainer!


	3. Departure

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* * *

Mark woke up to his own accord, with no set alarm clock to wake him. The sun was shining even brighter than it was the previous morning, despite the sorrow amidst. He very cautiously got dressed, and looked at Rose the whole time to make sure she wouldn't see him naked _again_. Afterwards, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, Mark quietly woke up Rose. She stretched and wished him a good morning as he got out a big backpack and started to fill it with a few clothes and memories from around.

"Rose, did you hear any of the conversation last night?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't focus. I was too tired."

"Well, my dad lost his job."

"I heard that."

"Which means that I have to earn money for the family until he can get a new one."

"What's the big deal? Can't your current job make enough money?"

"Not even close."

"Well, then, what are we going to do?"

"When Mom asked me that, I remembered what you had said to me yesterday at HideOut Burgers."

"What?"

"I'm gonna be a Pokémon trainer, and you're going to be my first Pokémon."

"Really? That's great!"

"I suppose so, but I'll have to quit at the restaurant and I won't be able to see anyone I know for a long time."

"Oh. Yeah. I'm sorry, Mark."

Mark finished gathering the small amount of things that he had, including two pairs of jeans, three t-shirts, a sweater, and a few photos of his family. He sat down next to Rose. "I've never really even been outside of Burgville and Low Bay."

"Where do you think we'll go?"

"I don't know. I think we'd better go to Greenstone City first. I was born there, and maybe you can find your mom there."

Rose grew a dark, depressing face full of hate. "I don't want to find my mom."

"But just imagine how happy she'll be to see that you're alive! I'm sure she's sorry for what she did, and I think that would do both you and her a favor."

"She sold me. Even if I did meet her, I couldn't stand to look at her."

"You don't mean that."

"No, I do. What would you do if you watched the most trusted person in your life unhand you to some executioners while they spare her?"

"I guess I wouldn't like her very much... but we're going there anyway."

"Fine..."

"Come on, let's go to breakfast." Mark opened the door and left the room as Rose followed. John was watching the TV, and Meryl and Stuart were eating at the table. Mark and Rose sat down and grabbed some bacon and fried eggs. Rose enthusiastically ate up both while the other three hung their heads and ate slowly. Mark finished first because his plate had hardly anything on it. Rose stood up as Mark did as well. "Do you have that money?"

Meryl answered. "Mark, I'm sorry... we have none. I thought we did but all the money we have is what we need to live off of."

Mark stared into his mother's eyes, feeling even more hopeless than before. "Well then how am I supposed to do this?"

"I don't know, Mark! Maybe the guys at HideOut Burgers will give you some of their pay."

"I sure hope so. Because I won't be able to do anything without that money."

"I'm really sorry, Mark." There was a long silence with nothing to hear apart from Spongebob (yes, John was so depressed that he had to watch Nickelodeon to feel better).

"I guess that we should get going."

Meryl looked up with a half-angry face. "You're leaving already?"

"I might as well. I've already packed, and we're going to be travelling all day." Meryl sniffled a little bit. "M-mom, I don't want to go!"

"S-son, you must! You _must_ go."

"I don't wanna quit at HideOut burgers. I don't want to leave Low Bay!" Stuart made a fake-sounding cry that was actually real and ran over to Mark and hugged him.

"You have to! I want you to stay more than you do, but you must go!"

Mark pushed Stuart away. "I... know. I must make money." He walked over to and sat on the couch. John remained staring at the TV. "Dad... goodbye." He gave John a kiss on the cheek and a tear rushed down both of their faces. He went over to Meryl and then Stuart and the same happened both times. "I love you, Mom. Goodbye."

"I love you, son. Goodbye. Try to keep in touch somehow."

"I will." He waved and shut the front door slowly.

Just before getting on his bike, his dad came out and hugged him. "Mark..."

"M-mmhmm?"

"Make me proud."

"I will."

They separated and Mark mounted his bike. "Goodbye, Mark!"

"Goodbye, Dad!" Mark left Low Bay with tears in his eyes and an unready heart. He biked over the mountain at high speeds, not even stopping to avoid the root. He just wanted to get out of this somewhere between a rock and a hard place, or at least get IN the hard place.

No one was there to greet him at the door, even though he was an hour late. He was over most of his crying; Rose had remained silent throughout the whole trip. He uncaringly laid the bike at the front of the restaurant and walked inside in a commoner's clothes, even though he should've been in a uniform. Rose walked in after him and he went straight up to Becky, who was even angrier than she was yesterday.

"MARK! YOU'RE LATE AGAIN!" He didn't do anything to signal that he had forgotten or was sorry.

"Becky, I have to go. I have to leave HideOut Burgers." Sadie, Guy, Nigel, Michael, and a few common customers who knew Mark well gathered around.

"What?" Becky said, flabbergasted.

"My dad lost his job, and I've gotten a new job."

"Well then, what are you doing now?"

"I'm going to be a Pokémon trainer."

"Oh, really? That's cool! But I'm really sorry about your dad losing his job, and I wish you could stay here at HideOut."

"I know, me too... but I must go."

"Where will you go?"

"I think I'm going to head for Greenstone."

"Ah."

"But... I have no money, and I need supplies..."

Becky thought for a moment and then realized something. "Well, I can't give you any of our profit, but I do have this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pokéball. "This is a spare I have."

Mark took it and looked at it. "It's a bit small, don't you think?"

"Just push the button."

He did. "Oh. Thank you so much for this, Becky."

"Mark!" Nigel said. Mark rolled his eyes but turned to him anyway. "I don't know if this will help, but you can use this." He reached into his enormous backpack and pulled out a pokédex and gave it to Mark.

"Is this a pokédex?"

"It's just an old one that I never used. I hated that color, so I got a new one. It has a few Pokémon registered on there but it's not any more than you can shake a stick at."

"What? Anyway, why do you hate this color so much?"

"I don't know, I've always hated it!"

"That color is my favorite!"

"Good!"

All the while, Guy counted some dollar bills from his wallet and handed him twenty. "Here, Mark. I might as well give you something as well."

"Thank you all so much for helping me!" Mark started to cry again. "I don't want to leave, but I know I have to."

Sadie felt guilty for not giving him anything, so she decided to go ahead and give him what he wanted most. "Mark," she said, coming closer to him, "I know I haven't been as nice to you as I should've been."

"What are you talking about? You're the nicest girl I know!"

"I know what you really want, Mark..." he backed his face away but she was too fast. She gave it a peck and he blushed. Everyone around 'ooh'ed. Both Rose and Guy felt a spark of anger in themselves when Sadie kissed Mark. "I'll be yours. You're a great guy."

Mark touched his cheek. "Thank you, I guess... what can I say?"

Rose stepped up. She'd seen enough and they needed to get going. "Come on, Mark. We need to go."

"I suppose you're right. Goodbye, Sadie."

"Goodbye, Mark," Sadie replied.

"Goodbye, everybody. I hope I can come back soon." He began to cry again as he walked closer to the door. Goodbyes came from all directions. "I don't want to leave you!"

"Mark, we need to go _now."_ Rose pulled at Mark's shorts.

"Wait a minute, Rose! I didn't even say goodbye to Beat."

"But your bike is getting stolen!" Mark looked up from the pleading Riolu. The same hobo from yesterday (and several weeks before) was standing up his bike and getting on. Mark immediately rushed to and opened the door, but he was too slow. The hobo had already rode just out of his reach, flipping him off. Mark felt more hopeless than ever before.

"Well what am I supposed to do now?" he said in a hopeless cry.

Nobody spoke at all. It was only a minute before Rose did. "Mark, it's not that bad. It'll be fine."

_"Not that bad?_ Now my only transportation is gone, and I'll be moving twice as slow to everything!"

"Mark, just think about it. It'll give us more time to catch Pokémon."

"Oh, right. I guess that makes sense... but I still have to get a new bike, either way." At that moment, the arena's glass doors opened and Beat stepped out.

"Hey, yo, y'all. What's goin' on over here? Mark! Why's you so sad?"

"Beat, I'm sorry. But I have to leave Burgville for a while."

"You're leaving us?"

"Yep. Goodbye, Beat. Goodbye, everyone." He wanted to delay as much as possible, but Rose was pushing him along. He thought she was just being helpful, but in reality she was trying to get him away from Sadie. Of course she didn't want to cause him any more pain than he already suffered, but she had only just met everyone Mark knew and wasn't sad about leaving much at all.

"Goodbye, everybody," Rose said. Mark opened the door and closed it. He looked around a little bit, then looked back inside and waved to the crowd who was still staring and waving at him. Then he walked west towards the forest. That crowd didn't see him again for a long time.

"Rose, I just realized. I'm not exactly sure where Greenstone is. We're going to need a map."

"That sounds like a good idea. Aren't we going to need food, to?"

"Oh, right. Of course."

"Can I get on your shoulders again?"

Mark sighed. "I guess so." He went to one of the nearest grocery stores, which was just a local seller. There were a good bit more teens who worked here, and no Pokémon could be found within the store apart from those helping the customers. Mark knew a few of these teens in that, he's talked to them a few times while checking out. "So what should we get, Rose?"

"Bacon and chocolate is all I need!"

"Okay... I guess I'll get that for you." Mark pulled a basket from a stack and began walking through the aisles sullenly.

"Mark, why are you so sad?"

"Why do you think? I'm having to leave my home to pay for my family!"

"Yeah, I knew that. Rephrased, why are you not happy? Being a Pokémon trainer should be a fun experience. And leaving home should be one of the perks!"

"I'm still upset, Rose. I might be able to like this whole situation eventually, but for now I'm going to be sad."

"I don't want to make you feel any worse, Mark."

"Good." He took a few items from the rows of products, including bacon and some Cadbury's, a jug of clean water, a small backpack for Rose, and some ready-to-eat dinners. At the register, he met the boy he knew the best at this store, Dempsey. He was a little older than Mark and had gold, curly hair. He was quite short but looked tougher than Beat.

"I haven't seen you in a while, Mark!" Dempsey said as he started to scan Mark's items.

"And I haven't seen you in a while, Dempsey."

"So what's going on with you? I see you've got yourself a Riolu. Are you a Pokémon trainer now?"

"I guess so. I'm actually just about to leave Burgville for a long time."

"Is that so? Well, I hope you can come back soon. May I ask why you're going?"

"My dad... he lost his job... and now I have to pay for my family's expenses. At least until he gets a new one."

"Oh, man... that sucks. I'm sorry, bro, but... that really bites."

"It does. Believe me, it does."

"So is this Riolu your favorite Pokémon? What's his name?"

"Well, she's my only Pokémon. But she'd probably be my favorite anyway. And her name is Rose."

"Oh, whoops. Sorry about that, Rose!"

"No problem," Rose said in forgiveness.

"If you're going to be travelling, Mark, aren't you going to need a map?"

"That's the only thing I couldn't find."

"I've got one right here."

"Can I have it?"

"I don't know why you'd want one. You have a pokédex, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, those things are, like, everything."

"Including a map?"

"Yup."

"Oh." Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out Nigel's old pokédex.

"That's a cool color. Where did you get that?"

"It is a neat color. Nigel gave it to me. Where's, uh... the map?"

"Here, let me see." Mark gave it to Dempsey quickly, who showed him the basics of it.

[TEN MINUTES LATER]

"...and that's how to catalog your diet and lose some weight!"

"That... is... a lot of stuff."

"Aren't these things amazing? They're like a 3DS, Android and iPhone combined!"

"Well, thanks, Dempsey. It was great to see you again, and I hope to see you again soon. But for now... I need to go. Bye, Dempsey."

"Goodbye, Mark."

Mark paid $15 and left the store with a much heavier backpack. Rose used her own backpack to carry the food, but the jug of water remained with Mark. He followed his map on the pokédex until the west forest was upon them and the massive lake was beside them. "Are you ready, Rose?"

"I most certainly am, Mark."

"Then let's go." He walked into the forest and didn't look back. He was still sad and sullen, but was feeling a little better. His journey had begun.

"The map says that if we just stay near the lake, we should be able to get to Greenstone as fast as possible."

"Do you think this food will last us long enough?"

"It should. Why do you ask?"

"I'm kind of hungry."

"Already? Well, you can have a little of that chocolate, but not too much!"

"Fine, fine, fine." She reached into her backpack and ate half of one of the four bars Mark had bought. They walked quite quietly for about thirty minutes. Rose stared off onto the lake, seeing many boats and ships passing. "Mark, couldn't we just take a boat to Greenstone?"

"Well, it's just like you said. I need to catch Pokémon. Either way it's expensive." Mark was suddenly overcome with exhaust. "Hold on, Rose, I think we should take a break." He set his backpack down next to a big oak and Rose got off his shoulders. "Ahh, that feels so relaxing. I think you'd better stay off my shoulders for a while, now, Rose. It can't be good for me."

"Fine, fine."

"Riolu are supposed to be able to climb three mountains in a single night or something like that, so don't be getting lazy on me." Mark pulled out the gallon of water and drank a little from it. He looked out to the ships on Lake Lundi. Of the four that were visible, one seemed to be going off course. "Hmm... that's a little bit strange."

"What?"

"You see that ship? The blue one?"

"Yeah?"

"It's not going in the same direction as the others."

"Oh yeah, that is a little bit weird."

"It looks like it's heading to Rockfall City."

"Is that another city?"

"Seeing as it's called 'Rockfall _City',_ yeah, I think it'd be safe to assume that." Rose scoffed humorously. "I guess it came from Waterbase Town, because it doesn't look like it came from Burgville. The angle is too strange."

"You know, it's kind of surprising that we haven't seen any Pokémon yet." Mark put up the water after eating a little chocolate. He was going to get going again, but he heard something. Growling. An intense, evil growl from just behind the tree. "Speak of the devil."

"What? What is it, Rose? Do you know?" Mark was scared. He wanted to look around the three-foot diameter of bark and xylem, but it took a lot of strength to do so. At first he saw nothing, but found that his head was raised too high. He looked down. "Oh! Pff! It's just a... whatever that is." He pulled out the pokédex and looked for it. It was gray, small, and very doglike with two giant pointed teeth rising from its jaw. "A Poochyena." Rose looked from behind Mark to find the Poochyena staring at her.

"A Riolu! Finally! I'm starving! Why don't you come over here, little doggy? I haven't eaten for days, and I'm starting to get tired of waiting!"

"Not on your life, poochy! You're weak against me. You know that! Don't worry, Mark. I'm very powerful against this sort of Pokémon."

"Okay... hey, wait. I just realized... I don't even know what you do! What are your moves? This pokédex hasn't got Riolu in here yet." The Poochyena stopped growling and just sat there, waiting for a battle to begin.

"Well, I can hit with my fists, obviously, I can use Quick Attack, Force Palm, and Nasty Plot. I know a few other moves but they don't do much."

"Okay, then, use Quick Attack!" Rose obeyed and lunged at the Poochyena. It flew backwards on the ground but got up. The two dogs were in the facing each other, growling intensely. Poochyena jumped forward and tackled Rose. It got back up on its feet and Rose did slowly. "Okay, let's see what... Rose, use Nasty Plot! Wait, hold on, what is that doing? What are those question marks even there for? Ah, well, whatever." The Nasty Plot was super effective. Poochyena lunged at Rose and bit her arm. She let out a yelp and Mark suddenly felt very sorry for her. He pulled out a pokéball, ready to catch the beast. "Rose, use Force Palm!" She obeyed. Infused with preadolescent aura, her fist swung at Poochyena. The wild POOCHYENA fainted!

"Oh, oops. A little bit too powerful."

"What? That was amazing, Rose!"

"Yeah, but... you can't catch him now."

"Oh. So, do we just leave him here, or...? What?"

"I guess... what else are we supposed to do?"

"Let's just leave before he wakes up. I don't really want to deal with him again."

"Good idea." Both Mark and Rose grabbed their things and, feeling kind of guilty, left the dog on the grass.

After walking real fast for a minute, Mark resumed his conversation. "As I was saying, Rose, that was pretty flippin' boss! I never expected that from you! ...Although it was a little bit overkill."

"Thanks. I just hope you can catch the next Pokémon I fight."

"How's your arm? Is it alright?" He noticed that blood was dripping from her. "It looks really bad. Damn, I forgot to get bandages! I thought I might need those, I can't..."

"Mark! It's fine! It just needs a couple hours and I'll be okay!"

"Alright, alright. It just looks really bad, that's all."

Rose tried to act strong by punching a tree, but she only hurt herself. "I might need a towel, though."

"I don't have one... I have my shirt, though."

"No, Mark. I don't want to get your clothes dirty."

"I'll just leave your arm alone."

"Thank you. Actually, I bet that I can heal it." Rose took her uninjured paw and tried to concentrate her aura to the red liquid spot on her body. Nothing happened. "I guess I can only use aura when I'm in dire need of it."

"Curse adrenaline."

"Ah, but if adrenaline didn't exist, I couldn't use aura at all."

* * *

It was already almost three o'clock, and the sun was right in between the horizon and the zenith. "I hope we can get to some sort of shelter before it gets dark," said Mark. "Do you know what kind of nocturnal Pokémon are around here?"

"No, but I don't think any would ever try to kill us. Not in this forest."

"My map says that there is a small town near the lake, but we'll have to go off course. You think we should go there?"

"Sure, why not?"

"It also looks like the highlands will be overwith soon. There'll be less of a hill."

"I guess that's good."

Mark and rose soon took another break and leaned against yet another tree. And yet again did another Pokémon wait a little ways away from them.

Rose perked up her ears. She sensed something. "Mark, there's something behind us. I don't think it knows we're here," she whispered. Mark looked behind the tree. He accidentally snapped a stick with his hand, alerting the creature of their presence.

"A Pikachu!" he whispered, the Pokémon looking at him. She wasn't afraid but became cautious when she saw Rose. "It's so cute! I've got to have it!" Mark stood up and pointed at the Pikachu. "Prepare to be captured, Pikachu!"

"Pika?" she said, as if she could say nothing else.

"Rose, can you fight with that arm?"

"I think so."

"Then use Quick Attack!" Rose lunged and attacked quickly. The pikachu was stunned for a few seconds, but shook her head and did a similar thing to the Riolu. Rose landed on her behind, but quickly got back up. Her arm began to bleed a little more, and she began to feel faint. "Use... Force Palm, I guess!" Using her one good arm, she charged up aura and punched the pikachu. It was badly wounded from the blow, but it did not do as much as it could have. Getting quite annoyed the pikachu surged electricity through her cheeks and zapped poor Rose. Rose screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

"Chu!" said the mouse before running off into the forest.

_"Rose!"_ Mark ran up to her twitching body. He touched her and felt a great, painful wave of lightning. He flinched intensely but proceeded to pick her up. "Rose, are you alright?"

She coughed a little bit, then cried a little bit, and then responded. "Yes... I think so."

"Oh, thank God."

He pulled her close and hugged her. After a minute of this protective love, Mark let go of Rose. Her legs were still too weak for her to stand, so she sat. "We need to get going again."

"Are you sure you can walk? Can you try to heal yourself?"

"No and no. Even if I tried to heal myself, it wouldn't heal this... I just need some rest."

"I'll carry you, then." Mark retrieved their backpacks from the tree and attempted to put them both on. After much toil, he was able to stuff her backpack into his. With his mediocre strength, he held Rose up by the back and legs, marriage-style.

Mark, being overburdened, had to stop walking after about twenty minutes. he was breathing heavily. "Rose... I'm... sorry... I must... rest... a while..."

"It's okay, Mark. Thank you for carrying me all this way."

"Yeah, but... we won't make it to Balik..."

"It doesn't matter, Mark. As long as we're both safe, everything is alright."

"Mmhmm. How are you doing?"

"I feel much better." She stood up. ''See, I'm okay!"

Mark smiled as she began to run around. Then a familiar voice broke their privacy. "You again?"

Mark spun around. He couldn't quite remember the voice, but when he looked up her saw the very same Pidgey from yesterday, sitting in a tree. "You again!" Rose saw him and said the same thing.

"I'm not going to deal with you today!" yelled Rose. Without command, she jumped into the tree and hit the bird with a Force Palm. "Mark, use a pokéball!"

"Umm... okay!" This whole situation was quite ironic. Mark drew out the single pokéball of Becky's and threw it at the Pidgey, now on the ground. As you might have suspected, a red light enveloped him and pulled him into the ball. It shook a little bit and then locked. _Da da da daaaaaaa!_ "Yes!" Mark cheered. "You did it, Rose!"

Rose jumped down from the tree. She was still angry. "Do _not_ let that bird out of there."

"Hey, what's your deal? Come on, cheer up! I just caught a Pokémon! _You_ just caught a Pokémon. "

"That Pidgey hurt you before. I don't like him."

"Well, he's mine now. I'll be sure to open this ball in an enclosed area."

"Good."

"It's starting to get dark. We should probably get to somewhere where we can sleep. the town is still quite a ways away, so we'll just have to make do with this grass."

"That's fine by me. I slept in that cave for almost two years, so grass is actually an improvement." They sat down on the grass. "Still not as good as your bed, though." Mark laid down on his back and stared up through a clearing in the leaves.

"Look, the stars are starting to appear." Rose laid on top of Mark to his surprise, and looked skyward.

"They're so pretty."

"Yeah. They remind me of Sadie."

"Ugh. That human girl is... really something."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think she's easy."

"Sadie? No way! Just because she kissed me doesn't mean she's easy."

"Compared to you humans, pretty much all us Pokémon are easy."

"Why are we talking about this again?"

"I don't know. You started it."

"No I didn't, you did!" Mark poked Rose in the side.

"No, it was you!" Rose made a mistake. She gave him a backhand slap to the face. Mark exclaimed a sound of pain, sat up and got angry. Rose immediately regretted her foolish action. "Mark, I'm sorry! I forgot that my..."

"Rose! It's okay! Oh, but _damn,_ those stones _hurt!_ I can imagine why that Pidgey was hurt so badly."

"It's... okay?"

"Yes, it's okay. haven't you ever heard of forgiveness?"

"Yes. But no, not really. I don't remember any of the Pokémon being poached forgiving the people who were cutting their limbs off. You can't really forgive a murderer, can you."

"Yes. You can. I already have."

"What?"

"My little sister. Four years ago she was kidnapped, raped, and murdered. I remember exactly what the kidnapper looked like, and I loved my sister like a big brother should. But if I cross paths with that man again, I wouldn't hesitate to shake his hand."

"How could you? I didn't even know you had a sister. How could you forgive him so easily?"

"At first, I wanted to kill him myself. My parents probably did too. But over time, I began to realize that these things just happen, and it was time to move on. That kidnapper isn't even a person to me. Just a force of time."

Rose gave her trainer a big hug around the chest. "I'm sorry that happened to your sister, Mark."

"Don't be. But I'll just say that if I can forgive that man for murdering my only sister, you can most definitely forgive your mother for simply endangering you."

"That makes sense, but I just don't have that big of a heart. I'm glad you do, though. I love you so much, Mark." She hugged him even tighter than before.

"I love you too, _ma amie."_

"Excuse me?"

"It's French. It means 'my friend'." Rose was a little disappointed it didn't mean a little more, but it's not like she was expecting anything a little more.

"I didn't know you knew another language."

"I'm not very good at it."

"You sound just fine to me."

"Oh, well, thank you. Okay, I'm actually starting to get pretty tired." Mark laid down again on his backpack pillow.

"Yeah, me too. It seems really early, though." Rose laid down next to Mark.

"Well, we were travelling and fighting the whole day."

"Mmhmm."

"I sure hope you'll be able to evolve soon. For my family's and your sake."

"Well, I've never been happier than ever before." She dug her small snout into Mark's side. "Goodnight, Mark."

"Goodnight... Rose." They both closed their eyes and were asleep within minutes.

* * *

**Summary** (for weird weirdos):

Mark and Rose said goodbye to his parents before going to work to say goodbye there as well. His co-workers there gave him some money and supplies, and the girl Mark likes gave him a sweet goodbye kiss. So those two are together, but apart at the same time. Mark's bike got stolen by a hobo. Mark decides to head for Greenstone City, where both he and Rose were born (of course, _she _was born in the forest). Greenstone is on the other side of the lake, which is a good 30 miles long/wide. That same Pidgey that pissed them off earlier pissed them off again, but Rose was able to get Mark to catch him this time.


	4. Deception

**_Author's Note: Well, it's summertime! I should have more time to write, but I've got a butt load of other things I want to do and a crap load of things I have to do... like taking a stupid PSAT class to help me do better at taking the PSAT. (I'll let you in on a secret: I don't want to go to college. I want to live as a hobo in an RV and write stuff for FF and draw stuff for e621 and play video games while i'm not travelling the country looking for a place I can work at for a week or so! And since I love love love love LOVE Lucario, accidents are out of the question and I'll only have to pay for myself and my python! And possibly a cat, too, because you can't live without one of those.)_**

**____****My profile: 4547565  
Supahlolman9's profile: 4014558**

* * *

Rose was not where she was last. She wasn't even _who_ she was last. She had evolved into a Lucario, and she was clad in an elegant white dress. She was at her wedding. And facing her, putting on her giant Lucario-sized gold ring was none other than Mark.

In the pews, she saw her mother, still with the hole in her ear, and her father as well. They, too, were holding hands. Mark's parents were watching intently also, and Stuart looked like an overheated cook pot of excitement. All the employees at HideOut Burgers were there, and even Rose's assumption of what Mark's little sister looked like was sitting patiently next to her mother.

"Well? Do you?" said the pastor.

She did not realize that they were saying the vows while she was staring at all their friends and family. "Oh- yes, I do."

"Then you may kiss the bride." Mark, wearing his handsome black tux, grabbed her and spun himself and her around. He pulled the veil back himself and drew his face closer, eyes closed. But their lips never touched.

Rose was instantly teleported back into the forest. She realized that all of that beauty, the dress, the groom, and the happiness- it was all a dream (you saw it coming). Then she noticed that _not quite_ all of it was her imagination. She stood up and noticed that she could see much better and higher up than before. Her ears were keener, too. When she touched them, the were taller and wider. Her aura sensors next to her eyes were gone, and had been replaced with four on the back of her head. She was about to rub her eyes in astonishment before noticing that there were iron spikes on them, instead of ivory stones. On top of that, her arm had been fully healed. When she looked down she saw a great, big spike stabbing through her heart and two cream-colored breasts hanging onto her. When she turned around, her tail lagged. She also noticed that she was wearing not a white dress, but wide blue shorts. And then she realized what had happened after seeing the sun just starting to rise over the lake.

"Daytime," she said to herself softly, surprised by her newer, older, lower voice. She looked at Mark, still asleep. "...and friendship." Overwhelmed by all her new features and shock, she couldn't wait to tell him of it. So she violently shook his sleeping body. "Mark, Mark, Mark! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" He immediately woke up.

"What, what, what? Rose, calm down! How'd you get to be so..." his eyes focused upon her. "...strong..." He sat up and simply stared at her in all her beauty. "Rose, is that you?"

"Yes, Mark, it's me! And I'm a Lucario!"

Mark stood up. "You're almost as tall as me! And... you're... _beautiful_. I'm not going to lie, you are beautiful. I mean, uh... you were cute and all before, but now..."

"You really think so? I don't know, maybe my breasts are too small..."

"Oh, they're fine. In fact, they're probably too big. Trust me, you're gorgeous. If you can make a hum and boy like me swoon, _who already loves someone else,_ then you are going to kill those Lucario males." Those four words made Rose very sad. Even with all her new looks, Mark was still for Sadie.

"Well, at least he thinks I'm beautiful," she thought to herself. "That's a start."

"What's a start?"

"What? Nothing! I didn't say anything!"

"No, no, I heard you say 'that's a start'."

"I didn't say that. I thought that."

"That's right! Lucario are telepathic, remember?"

"Oh yeah. You didn't hear anything before I thought that, did you?" Rose thought to Mark. "No, why? Got something to hide?"

"No, I'm just... nevermind. Still pretty cool. (I gotta keep it under control!)"

"It is pretty cool. But I'd prefer if you talk with your mouth."

"Oh..."-she switched to talking normally-"...sorry. I just wanted to try it out."

"That's alright. We should get going though."

They began to walk through the forest to the nearby town, Balik. Rose. stumbled a few times, still getting used to her new legs, but got used to them in no time. The engaged in yet another conversation.

"Mark, I just realized something."

"What's that?"

"Now that I'm a Lucario, I might be more, um... what's the word..."

"Unable? Prone?"

"Yes! Prone! I might be more prone to poachers."

"I thought you said that brand would protect you."

"Yes, it did, but... it's gone now. It must've healed in the evolution."

"What? Let me see!" Rose raised her left foot and hung onto it with her forepaw. "Wow, that's all your foot? It's bigger than your entire arm!" Mark examined her heel closely, but could find no brand. "You're right... it's gone."

"See? What will protect me now?" She lowered her massive foot.

"You're a Lucario! You can protect yourself!"

"You mean you won't?"

"No, Rose, no... I'll protect you forever, but... I'm just saying that you're a lot more powerful now. You shouldn't need a brand to protect you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But I've only just begun to experience _being_ a Lucario. I'm not even completely sure what all I can do yet."

"Mmhmm." Something caught Mark's eye. "Hey, what's that?" It was a white discoloration in the distance as far as he could see. "Rose, why don't you try using your aura sight?"

"Great idea. Let's see here..." Rose jumped her eyes around from place to place, trying to figure out how to make it work. She was able to raise her sensors, one by one, and make them gyrate in the air. Then she closed her eyes and saw things perfectly. "Oh, wow... this is very interesting..."

"What? Can you see that thing yet?"

"No, just this whole atmosphere. Everything is so blurry and blue, yet... I can see everything perfectly. And- oh, oh, oh..." she opened her eyes, her sensors drooped and she blushed.

"What? What is it?"

Rose turned away. "Oh, Mark. I'm sorry."

"What...? Come on, tell me. What is it?"

"...Your... I can see you naked with my aura sight."

"Ack! What?" Mark blushed and covered his crotch. "Well, don't pay attention to me! Just look for that thing. It's okay, Rose. Just an accident.

"...Alright. She turned around, still very red and eyes closed. Her aura sensors began to levitate again. "Ugh... this is difficult." She was attempting to focus her sight into the discoloration ahead. "Ah! There we go. I see... kind of... a building. Wait-there's more than one. And there's people around, to... thank God I can't see them like I can see you. I guess they're too far away. But that must be Balik."

"At last! Come on, let's hurry!" Mark grabbed Rose by the paw and pulled her while fast walking. She snapped out of her aura sight and walked with him. Within about a minute, they were at the edge of the forest. They stopped at the road and took a look around.

Balik was a very small town, no larger than a square mile, but was equipped with all the necessary needs for a town. Mark and Rose took one step through the entrance and someone about Mark's age immediately ran up to them. He was all sweaty, and looked like he had just finished jogging around town. Literally.

"Hey there! I'm Dylan! I haven't seen you here before! Are you new to Balik?"

Mark answered. "Yes, but we're not staying for long. Maybe one night, no more."

"Ah. I see. We don't get many visitors, since our town is so small... actually, I just finished jogging around town. Literally!"

"I can tell. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Dylan!" Mark shot out his hand and Dylan shook it hard. "I'm Mark. Mark, really, but... Mark. Hey, do you know if this town has like a Pokémon gym, or, like, a battlefield where I can win some money?"

"We have both. Actually, the battlefield is almost never used seriously but when a trainer like you shows up from out of town, people start to congregate there and place bets and all that good stuff."

"Bets? So, like, how does that work? I would assume that all the bets not placed on the winner go to the winner, right?"

"Exactly how it works."

"And then I guess the people that bet on the winner get more money, right?"

"Yep. If you're going to try and compete, I'll definitely bet for you. Your Lucario there looks like she's got some serious skills. She's quite pretty, too." Rose blushed.

"Oh... thank you," both Mark and Rose said at the exact same time.

"Well, see you when I see you!" he said, and then ran away.

"Rose, come quick. Back to the forest." Mark walked back behind a tree and waved for Rose to come. She came.

"Mark, what's wrong? Is that Dylan guy too weird for you?"

"No, but he had some very interesting information. Get down! Don't let anyone see you! Especially with me!"

Rose was confused but obeyed. "What, that you can get some money?"

"Yes, but I'm talking about how the bet works and his opinion of you."

"What do you mean, that I'm quite pretty?"

"No, I mean... look. The bet works so that all the money not bet on the winner goes to him, right?"

"Mmhmm..."

"And he said, 'your Lucario there looks like she's got some skills' and 'I'll definitely bet on you'. Think about it. If everyone here is the least bit like that guy, and they see me with a Lucario as one of my Pokémon, they'll probably bet on me too."

"So...?"

"So, if I say that all I have is this badass Pidgey, no one will bet on me. Then, during the battle, I take you out and win all that money bet on me!"

"Mark! You're terrible! Taking advantage of people's money and keeping secrets..."

"Hey! I'm doing this for my family, remember? They have absolutely no income at the moment."

"...It's just terrible, but... I'm with you. And honestly, that's quite a clever plot. You're so smart and cunning."

Oh. Well, um... thanks."

"...But how am I going to get in there? Your only pokéball is already occupied, and and don't think that Pidgey's going to be very cooperative until much later."

"Yeah, you're kinda right." Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out his pokédex, the Pidgey's pokéball, and the Quoins that he had left over from the grocery store. "I have about 35 Quoins left. I could just run into town real quick and buy a pokéball for you, but I don't know how much a stay at the inn is. I think pokéballs cost about... four?"

"Yeah. We wouldn't want to sleep outside again, would we?"

"No, not really. I guess our only option is to try to get that Pidgey to help us."

"He's still injured from where I punched him, right?"

"Yeah. But hey! We could make a deal with him! You could heal him, and then release him once this thing is overwith. His freedom and healing for his help!"

"A splendid idea! See, you're just... oh, so smart and cunning! I think you might be able to use Nasty Plot yourself!"

"Haha! Well, this is a service deal, not a Nasty Plot. My plan for hiding you _is_ a Nasty Plot."

"Okay. You ready for me to open this up?" Mark pushed the button on the ball and it expanded. "You be sure to get him if he flies off, alright?"

"Okay."

Mark opened up the ball and the bird emerged. "Finally! You let me out! Oh, and how convenient! Right next to the forest! Well, seeya'z!" The Pidgey spread his wings and shot off towards the forest.

"Hey! Nuh-uh!" yelled Rose. She jumped and caught him in midair.

"Hey! What the & $#!"

"Just a minute there, little birdy!" said Mark. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mark. Now, what's your name?"

"Is this that same daughter-of-a-bitch Riolu that hit me? Twice?"

"Yes, I am! And my mother is a bitch in both ways, bitch! Answer Mark's question!" Rose spoke with a furious, intimidating voice. She was obviously taking the path opposite Mark.

"Fine, fine! My name's Nimbus! You happy?"

Mark stared for a second, impressed at how well that worked. "Yes, actually. This Lucario (although you know her as a Riolu) is Rose. I know how much you hate both of us right now, but I will be willing to let you go if you can cooperate."

Nimbus stopped squirming and listened. "You mean, you'll actually let me go? And never bother me again?"

"Yep. All you have to do is ride on my shoulder and pretend we're best friends until tomorrow. Maybe not even until then. I won't even put you in a pokéball. And don't try to hide your pain from us. I know you're badly hurt, but Rose can heal you instantly if you agree."

"Well, you're right. It hurts like crap even to move. But you know I could just fly off at any time, right? Somethin's gotta keep me on your shoulder, pal."

"If you leave me alone any time before I say you can, you might as well have killed my family. You don't sound heartless. Just super annoying and mischievous. You wouldn't ruin my only chance to save my family, would you?" Of course Mark was exaggerating, but he need Nimbus' help.

"...Well, no, I don't suppose I could. But how do I know you're not lying to me?"

"Do you seriously believe I want help from _you?_ Come on, you're my only hope."

Nimbus thought hard before making a decision. "Fine. I'll do it. You can heal me now."

"Alright, Rose." She set him down and began to heal his chest where she had punched him with aura with aura.

"But as soon as you say so, I'm going. Oh, ooh... that feels good..." His bruise and sprained ribs were mended in no time, despite Rose's inexperience. "Thanks, Rose. Alright, so what's the plan? What are we even doing?"

"I need you to help me fool a betting audience. I'm going to fight someone (I don't know who) at a Pokémon battlefield, and apparently this one allows people to place bets. I know that if I go into that town with Rose, people will definitely bet on me. And then I won't get as much money as I could if my best Pokémon was, say... a Pidgey. No one would bet on me and I'd get much more Quoins."

"I see. That's quite a clever plan. So all I have to do is be your Pokémon until after a battle where I do nothing?"

"Yep. I'll train a little with Rose beforehand, and then once the fight starts, all bets will be off and Rose can take over from there. After the fight, I'll set you free and you can go back to whatever you were doing before I caught you. That work for y'all?" Rose and Nimbus nodded. "Okay, Rose... it's time to go in."

"Alright. Bye, Mark..." Mark smiled and waved, then drew her inside.

"Okay, Nimbus. Let's go."

The bird sighed and flew up onto his shoulder and they began to walk into town. "Just don't take advantage of me."

"Don't worry, I'm not seeking revenge, either. I forgive you for hurting me."

"I didn't even say sorry."

"I'm a very kind person."

"Oh, so by that you mean capturing me and using me for your evil doings?"

Mark scoffed. "If, by 'evil doings' you mean helping my family survive, then yes."

"Rose is kinder than you are, sir! And she gave me a big _sock_ to the chest! Twice!"

"Ha! That's just because she healed you!"

"And you have done nothing!"

"I'm letting you go after this whole thing! Any other trainer would keep you forever!"

"Shut up, here comes somebody!" Mark immediately looked up and noticed that they had already made it halfway across a street full of houses. Both he and Nimbus put smiles on their faces. Two girls, one older and one younger than Mark, stopped and looked at them.

"Oh! A visitor! Welcome to our town! Are you a trainer?" Asked the older one.

"I sure am! And I seek to challenge a worthy opponent!"

"Oh, great! Everyone here loves Pokémon battles, especially when outsider come to challenge one of us! Our brother is pretty good, I guess..." said the younger girl. They continued to alternate.

"Huh! I doubt he'd be a match for me and my Pidgey!"

"You mean that's your best Pokémon?"

"Yep. He's my best friend, too. And he's really powerful!"

"i bet. Would you like us to kinda spread the word around?"

"Oh, um... yeah. Yeah, that'd be great. But, uh... I don't know. How're you gonna tell people?"

"We'll go door-to-door. Everyone knows everyone here in Balik."

"Oh. Wow, that's... I came from Burgville, see, and it's a pretty big town..."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, we'll get going! Bye!" The two sisters began to leave.

"Alright, thank you!"

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Mark!"

"Neato! Bye!" Mark continued down the old concrete road. He met a few others around, and told them of his fake situation. He felt horrible, lying to all these nice people, but he had to do it for his family. Soon a small crowd of both humans, Pokémon, boys and girls of all ages crowded behind him.

"Looks like we won't get a chance to practice with Rose. At least, not for a while. But wow, these people _REALLY_ like their Pokémon battles!" At about ten o'clock, Mark had made it across town and had accumulated a crowd of about thirty people (not including their Pokémon) and was getting severely annoyed. Near a construction site, he eyed a port-a-potty. "Hmm... maybe I can just wait in there until they go away," he suggested to Nimbus.

"What, the port-a-potty?"

"Yeah."

"Seems legit."

Mark speed walked over to the blue box that someone had spray painted the words "Police Public Call Box" on and opened the door. A horrible stench filled his nasal cavities. Nimbus hopped onto the top of it as Mark painfully made his way inside. He stood in the middle of the port-a-potty, covering his nose with his shirt and hand. He listened for the crowd to go away, but he heard no change. The crowd was still there.

"Hey! Get out of here! The visitor needs his privacy to take a dump, you insensitive idiots!" Nimbus' insult sounded pretty convincing, and a few members of the crowd started to leave. It wasn't until Nimbus had shouted seven more demands and three more minutes until all of them were gone. "Alright, Mark. You can come out now. Quick, we must re-enter the forest and train Rose!"

"Thanks, Nimbus," Mark said, nasally and muggled. He opened the door slowly, looked about, then rushed off into the forest again. Mark ran a good distance into the forest before taking out Rose's pokéball. He opened it up and she came out lying on the ground. "Rose? Are you asleep?"

She turned her head around immediately. "Oh! Mark! Now, I was just, um... resting. Are we ready to train?"

"Yes."

"So, you went in town? How was it?"

"it's a very nice town with a lot of really nice people, and I hate to do this to them but it has to be done. Nimbus has been very cooperative, however. He single-handedly shooed away a crowd who wouldn't leave me alone."

"A crowd? Do these people really like outsiders this much?"

"Apparently it's trainers who are really enthusiastic about challenging someone."

Mmhmm. Well, let's train!... I guess... where do I start?"

"I don't know. Try to form an aura sphere, why not? That's a cool attack. It's really powerful, too."

"Okay, I'll try."

"No! Try not! Do! Or do not!"

"Ha, ha. Very funny, master Yoda." Rose attempted to flow aura into her palms. Small blue flames emerged out of them, but the created no shape.

"Hmm... maybe try putting your paws together." She tried putting her paws together. Instantly a small, aqua ball of aura about the size of a small rock formed out of the two merging flames.

"Huh! Look at that! It was so easy, I don't know how that happened!"

"Rose, that's great!... But it's a little small. But that's good! Starting small is good. Now, try to throw it."

"Um... okay!" When she tried to throw it (by simply passing it like a basketball), it stuck to her paws like gorilla glue. She tried again. It clung still. "Mark, what do I do? I can't let go of it."

"I don't know, I'm not a Lucario. Try, um... just cutting off the aura to your arms." She obeyed and it instantly vanished.

"Oh. Derp." She formed another aura sphere, this time much quicker.

"Now try throwing and cutting it off at the same time? I don't know what I'm talking about." She tried that theory, and it actually almost worked. The ball seemed to leave her paws for a second before disintegrating. "Well, it's a start."

"Hey, but it worked! Sorta." She formed yet another aura sphere. "Maybe if I... 'spin it', sort of... like the Rasengan. Maybe that would make it more sustainable in the air.

"Great idea."

"Umm... how would I do this? Let's see..." She tried spinning it physically by orbiting her paws around it. She threw it. It flew for about two seconds before disintegrating. "That sort of worked... again... oh, this is embarrassing!"

"It's okay, Rose. Just keep trying." She tried several more times, and with each her spheres grew larger. They travelled farther as well, until one was finally able to hit a tree. There was a pretty big hole in it, but it was still intact. "Whoa! That's great, Rose!" ROSE learned AURA SPHERE!

"You think I'm starting to get a hang of it?"

"Yeah. Most definitely. Why don't you try something else for a while, though? It's never good to do one thing for too long."

"Alright. Well, I know Lucario can use bone staffs made out of aura. That sounds kinda lame, though."

"That doesn't sound lame. That sounds super cool!"

"It's just... a bone staff... sounds lame..."

"If you don't like that, why not try something cooler?"

"Like a sword?"

"Yeah! If you can learn how to make it sharp, then that would be even more super cooler! But as I said, it's probably a good idea to start small. Just stick with the bone staff for now, okay?"

"Ugh. Let me try to make a sword once, okay?" Her disobedience slightly annoyed Mark, but he figured it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Alright, how are you going to go about doing this, then? You can't just hold out your hands and expect to make a sword."

"That's exactly what I intend to do. And these right here are paws, not hands." She stood up straight, and held out her paws as if she were holding a sword in between her eyes. She focused aura in them, and a blue flame took the shape of a hilt. Its shape kept changing from a polyhedron to a cylinder to just a jumble of flames. "Oh, wow... this is weird... I can sort of feel it in my hands!"

"...Paws."

"Right, right." Once its shape stabilized into the perfect fit of her paws, she tried to extend a blade out of it. More jumbled flames and sparks rose up from the hilt, but she couldn't even form its shape past three inches much less make it sharp. She gave out, and it fizzled into the air.

"Hey, are you alright?"

She panted for a second, then responded. "Yeah. I just tried too hard, that's all."

"Let me get you some water." Mark pulled out a bottle of water from his backpack, opened it, and then gave it to her. She drank it, but winced.

"Ugh... I hate bottled water... but it's water. Thanks."

"You're welcome. I think that you did pretty well for a first time, actually."

"Mmhmm. I think I could do it for real if I try it again, though. Here, let me do it once-"

"No! As your trainer, I decide and command what you do! And I command you to start by making some sort of bone staff. I love you very much, Rose, but you must do as I say. We haven't much time left."

"...Okay. So, how do I do this?"

"Well, I guess... do the thing where you hold it, but this time hold it like a staff. In fact, keep your paws touching. I bet if you charge up enough aura and then pull your arms apart, the staff will bridge the gap."

"Another great idea. Alright, here we go..." She put her paws together again, and stored up aura in her fists. When she tried to form the ends of the staff, she found it much easier and natural to do so, as opposed to the sword. She pulled her paws apart, and sure enough, the main body of the staff was formed. After a mere ten seconds, she had created a short staff of blue flames. "Look at that! I did it!" Mark smiled. She let go with one paw and it maintained its form. She swung it around in the air and it still maintained its shape. She hit a tree with it fiercely and it made a loud _thwack!_ A small dent in the trunk appeared and the staff kept its shape.

"Amazing job, Rose. I'm super duper proud of you." ROSE learned BONE RUSH!

"Yaaay!" She threw it away and ran up to hug Mark. She knocked him over onto the ground and gripped him passionately around the neck. He was astonished at first, but hugged back. But then he was astonished by something else: not only was her chest spike nearly stabbing his forehead, but the two structures beneath it were just under his chin, grazing him.

"Rose, you did an amazing job, really, but... *ahem* your boobs are touching me. This doesn't feel comfortable." They both blushed and she backed off.

"Oh, Mark... I'm sorry. Was that weird?"

"Yeah, a little. Just a smidgen."

"I'm so sorry, Mark... I just wanted to show my love."

"I understand. But next time, just try to hug me a little lower. Your spike almost killed me, too."

"Mark, I'm so sorry! It's hard to get used to this deadly body of mine!"

"It's alright! Hey, wait a minute...look..." Mark pointed over to the bone staff, which should've disintegrated shortly after leaving Rose's touch. "How is it still there?"

"I don't know." It poofed into thin air. "Ahh...now it makes sense."

"What?"

"I never 'commanded' it to disintegrate. I did just there, but...not before."

"So you're saying that you commanded all the aura spheres to disintegrate?"

"No, the aura is too unstable in those for me to have complete control over it. At least for now."

"I didn't even know you could 'command' it at all."

"It's more like manipulating it. Think of it that way."

"I wonder if I could hold one of those bone staffs..."

"You wanna try it out?"

"Umm... sure, I guess..." She formed another staff and held it out towards Mark. "Isn't it hot? It looks just like fire."

"It's a little warm, I suppose." He reached out and touched it, then retracted, as if he was testing for static electricity. Then he gripped it by the edge and felt no pain.

"This feels so weird... it is warm, but it feels like it's moving, too... shifting."

Rose let go. "Amazing... you're holding my power..."

Mark swung the bone rod at the tree. Just as it did for Rose, it hit the wood as if it weren't blue or magical at all. She cut off the aura to the staff and it poofed. "Well, that's really interesting! I didn't know that I could hold aura. I thought only Lucario could. I don't see what use that could be to me since I'm not a Pokémon, but that's still super cool."

"Yeah. Do you think I'm ready to fight?"

"If you can just form those two things quickly, I'm sure you'll win. Either way you'll do great."

"Are you sure? What if I have to face something scary and powerful?"

"Rose, you are scary and powerful."

"Well thank you," she said sarcastically.

"...but you're sweet and gentle, too."

"That's more like it."

"Okay, let's get going back to town. You ready, Nimbus?" No one replied. "Nimbus?"

"Oh my freaking - I am going to kill that bird."

"If we can find him again." Suddenly, to their surprise and relief, Nimbus fell through the leaves and perched upon a branch.

"Somebody called?" he chirped.

"There you are! Where on earth have you been?"

"I was hungry, so I found some bugs."

"Mmhmm, yeah, okay. You ready to go back to town?"

"Yep! Let's go!" He flew down onto Mark's shoulder.

"I thought you'd broken the deal. Thanks for coming back."

"Mark, I need to go in my ball," Rose said. "Oh yes, that's right." Mark got out the Pokeball and got ready to pull her inside. "The next time I call you out, you'll be in battle. So get ready."

"Alright. Seeya, Mark!" She disappeared.

"Let's-a go!" Mark said like Mario. He walked back through the forest until he reached Balik Town again. But he wasn't at the construction site. He was at the store, which happened to be right next to the battlefield.

"Mark, it might be a good idea to buy some potions or something...your opponent might be loaded with 'em."

"I haven't much money, though I won't be able to pay for a night at the inn."

"Aren't you just about to win the jackpot?"

"Oh yeah. I could still lose, though."

"I think that's just a risk you'll have to take. You'll definitely lose if the other guy has a buttload of potions."

Mark sighed. "I guess you're right." He went inside and looked around. "Hey," he whispered, "How much health does a super potion give?"

"I'm not sure. More than a normal one. I'd get two of those."

Mark took them off the metal shelf. "Alright... hold on, how do you know so much about this stuff?"

"I've been caught by trainers before, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Mark walked up to the cash register lady. "I'd like to buy these two super potions, please."

"So you're the new trainer around here, are ya?" the lady said.

"Yes... and I'd like to buy these." He place the vials on the counter.

"Two super potions... for your Pidgey there?"

"Yep." Mark started to become annoyed.

"I'd just try to find some Oran berries if I were you."

"Listen, lady! If I want to buy two super potions for my Pidgey, I'm gonna buy two super potions for my Pidgey!"

"Alright! Fine!" They both calmed down. "That'll be twenty-eight Quoins."

"Twenty-eight? That's ridiculous!"

"I don't make the prices."

"I bought a backpack and food for less than that!"

"You know, apparently in Hoenn and Kanto and all those places, they don't use Quoins."

"Yeah, that's nice. Here's your freakin' twenty-eight Quoins in money we use here in Andara." She returned the potions to him.

"Thank you very much. Have a nice day!" Mark quickly exited the shop.

"Good Lord, that woman was annoying!"

"I know, right? She was even worse than me!" said Nimbus.

"I was just about to say..."

"Hey!" said a voice from some distance in front of them. Mark looked up tot see three cool looking trainers, all with sunglasses and a different Pokémon, and half the town behind them, standing in front of the battlefield gates.

"We've heard there's a new trainer in town! And we want to battle! Come on, let's go!" Mark followed the three teens inside, as the crowd followed them.

The crowd of around sixty people went to bet and sit in the stands, and the four trainers stepped onto the rocky, dirty battlefield. "Now, new kid, what's your name?" asked the leader of the group.

"Mark!"

"Alright, Mark... who do you wish to battle?"

"That's awfully nice of you. Letting me pick, I mean." He and Nimbus scanned each of the boys and their Pokémon. Mark noticed how similar in size and height the trainers were. "Hey, don't mean to be assumptive or anything, but are y'all brothers?"

"Well, yes... but that doesn't matter. Who do you choose?" The brother on the left looked a little shy, but had a fine Ninetales. He was most likely the youngest. Mark was just about to point at him when Nimbus whispered into his ear.

"Wait, Mark! I know what you're thinking! That trainer may look weak, and it's true that the trainer's personality is reflected into his Pokémon in battle, but regardless of that, Lucario are weak against fire!"

"Really? I had no idea. Thanks."

"As for the one on the right, that guy looks like that Ninetales. Probably the middle child. All he's got is a Machoke, but Lucario aren't good against fighting-types, either. That trainer could potentially win."

"I feel so dumb. I'm having to get a bird to tell me what to do."

"...and the brother in the middle - both him and that Swampert look like they've had a looong time training behind them. But it's a water/ground type, so Rose should be okay. Probably. I would pick whatever, but I'd pick the oldest brother."

"Alright." Mark pointed to the one with the Swampert. "I choose to fight you!"

The brothers all scoffed. "Rick? He's the best of us all!" said the one with the Machoke.

"I've made my choice! Now let's battle!"

"Leave, brothers. This will be over shortly," Rick said.

Unknown to Mark, in the crowd, people were talking about the bets. Most people bet on Rick, but a select few daredevils and geniuses bet on Mark.

"Hey, guys," said Dylan to a group of friends. "I just bet on Mark, the new guy. Even against Rick, he can't lose."

"What've you done?" said one friend. "We all bet on Rick."

"You seriously think that Pidgey can beat Rick's Swampert?" said another.

"No, but no one ever said Mark didn't have any other Pokémon," answered Dylan.

"What, you mean Mark's got a madly powerful Pokémon he's hiding?"

"No, he showed it to me. I'm sure he'll show everyone else, too."

"Well, what is it?"

"A Lucario." The group of friends' eyes became severely dilated.

An announcer announced the start of the match. "All bets are off! Begin!"

"A Lucario?! Dylan, why didn't you tell us earlier? It's gonna completely destroy Rick's Swampert!

"We'll never know, now will we? Come on, let's just watch this battle." Dylan and his friends sat down and turned their sour faces (save Dylan's) to the two opponents.

"Your move!" said Rick. The crowd watched intently, anxious to see Mark's Pidgey do something cool. But Nimbus didn't do anything.

Mark reached into his pocket slowly, his heart pounding with excitement and regret. Out popped Rose, and the entire crowd gasped. A grimace grew on Rick's face. Mark withdrew Nimbus into the one old Pokeball he had. "Alright then, let's see if you can't beat a Lucario. Muddy...I wonder how agile this dog is...use Tackle!"

The giant marshy beast jumped towards Rose. With an explosive noise, a cloud of dirt blocked them from view. The crowd clapped. But Rose had dodged the lunge and jumped out of the dusty fumes, angering the audience. "Rose, use Bone Rush!" Mark cried. ROSE used BONE RUSH. She was able to form the staff within only a few seconds this time. Using aura sight, she gazed into the slowly fading dust cloud. She saw the mighty fish and dashed back into the cloud with her fiery bone. Rose whacked it about, making it mad and angry.

"Muddy, get out of there and use Mud Shot!" The Swampert leaped out. The cloud vanished almost completely. Muddy did whatever it is Swamperts do to use Mud Shot, and this time it hit Mark's Lucario. It was extremely effective, and Rose was already almost down. She shook the painful mud off her body.

"Rose, catch!" He threw a super potion towards her. She caught it and guzzled down the pink liquid inside. Her pain was gone, and the bruises from the mud (which hadn't shown yet) were healed. She probably could've healed herself, but it would've taken a while, and I don't think that Swampert was willing to take a coffee break.

The trainers shouted commands and their Pokémon continued to battle. the crowd was now about an even split in terms of thinking who would win, but everyone was still rooting for the team with their money on the line.

"Rose! Use Aura Sphere! This one should do it!"

"Alright! Here we go!" She did just as she did in training, and formed a bright blue orb in the palms of her paws. She was slightly unconfident, but she threw it anyway. The great swampy beast was struck hard by the small fireball, and he fell to the ground on his side. Rose couldn't help but feel slightly awesome for bringing down this mighty beast and helping out Mark's family.

* * *

**Summary** (for ding-dongs):

Nimbus, that Pidgey, reluctantly helped Mark to earn some good money. Rose began her aura training and learned how to fight like the sexy jackal she is.


	5. Nova (updated)

_**Author's Note: Okay, so... I recently bought Pokémon Pearl because I felt like it and I realized that potions are actually a spray... SCREW THAT! I'm sticking with drinking potions. Pretty good idea, Nintendo, but no. Just no. I'm actually sort of allowed to write stuff at home, which is cool, because my library's computers suck beyond suckagination, and I'm actually working on a pretty good little novella for all to read, with my secret identity as the author. It's almost as fun as writing for you guys! So that's slowing me down, and also I pretty much have to be alone at night to write... or having my p's watching TV or Hulu. So I'm working on this AMAP, but my novella is actually pretty good. So I'm working on both. Apart from that, my SAT class is actually giving me a whole new batch of words that would confuse most people but actually fit perfectly with any lemon. For instance, to 'immerse' also means to 'cover with liquid'. Also, we have just gotten Uverse, so internet will be faster... as it is, we have like 1.5 megabits or something, and Uverse gives us 18 megabits of downstream. So yeah. I'll be faster than the speed of sound.**_

_****__**My profile: 4547565  
Supahlolman9's profile: 4014558**_

* * *

"Wha... Muddy lost? How?" Rick asked himself.

"Rose... didn't lose? How?" Mark asked himself.

The crowd was just speechless. And angry. More than most of the crowd had just lost whatever they had bet on. And it was going to the kid that fooled them. All those who supported the newcomer were silenced by the silence.

Rose, being super tired, walked her dirty and cut up body back to her master, sat down next to him, and began to heal her wounds herself. Mark knelt down next to her and put his hand on her head. She stopped healing in surprise and 'love shock', or whatever else you can call it. He whispered into her ear. "Rose, that... was... AWESOME. You did so well, and I'm so proud of you." She blushed _hard_. "Good job."

"I... er... Mark, I..." Rose was immobilized by love! She whimpered and stuttered, but couldn't say nothing. All she could think to do in this situation was slowly magnetize her arms around Mark.

"..."

"..."

"Hey! Mark! That was some serious fighting!" Rick yelled across the battlefield.

"What?"

"I said that was some amazing fighting!" He retrieved Muddy back into his pokéball.

"You're... not angry?"

"Well, I'm a little upset that your Lucario hurt my Swampert so bad, but I think that was a pretty crafty plan you got there! You're pretty clever, kid!" He turned to the crowd. "Dear people! Do not be angry with Mark! I will pay triple to the winners of next game!" He turned back to Mark. "Come, Mark! Let's get you your money."

"Um... okay... come on, Rose. Can you walk?" She shook her head. He knew in reality that she could, but she was obviously extremely tired. So he set her on his back and he walked her over to Rick. "So... you figured out my plot?"

"Yeah. You use that Pidgey to lower your reputation, then break out with a super powerful pokémon... it's actually pretty smart. If this was a professional battle, I'd be pretty angry, but I'm sure no one payed more than 10 Quoins here. Just don't do it again, okay?"

"Yeah, totally. Just this once, promise."

"You must be extremely skilled as a trainer. Where do you come from?"

"Well, actually, this was literally my first trainer battle ever. And I come from Low Bay. Right next to Burgville?"

"Hmm... I find that hard to believe, if you have _that_ skilled of a Lucario."

"I just met her like a few days ago."

"Oh, she's a girl? Those are pretty rare. You're lucky. But a few days ago? You're talking nonsense now."

"Believe what you like. This is my only pokéball, too." He pulled out the scarred up metal sphere. "Which reminds me..." Mark opened it up and Nimbus came out. "Okay, Nimbus. You're free to go, now."

"Did you win? Huh? Didja?"

"Yup. And I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you so much."

"Oh, well... you're welcome."

"Well, go on, fly off! It's what you've been wanting this whole time!"

"About that... I was thinking... you know... I could stay?"

"You actually want to?"

"I mean, you said you didn't want my help and all, but I can't say I had a fun time watching you and Rose train, and offering advice, and arguing, too. Please, let me stay. I promise to be polite... enough."

"Well, I suppose... that would be... fine... but you have to stay in your pokéball a lot of the time."

"Oh. Yeah, sure. I've never seen a trainer like you, Mark. I want to be a part of your team, Mark."

"Very well! Then welcome, Nimbus, to Mark's team!" Mark jokingly pulled him back inside his ball before he could say another word. "Well I guess I just caught my second pokémon!"

"Your second?" Rick asked, astonished.

"Yup. Just got this one pokéball, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Okay, well, let's get your money."

"Okay."

"May I ask why you felt like you needed to fool us all?"

"...I guess I could've just asked around for money... but that would've been lame."

"No, I mean... why do you need the money? Coming from Low Bay doesn't make you sound like you're the richest person in the world... no offense."

"None taken. I need the money... because my family needs it. My dad suddenly and mysteriously lost his job, and now I need to raise money to support the family."

"Oh, wow, now I don't feel bad at all about giving you money!"

"Ha ha! Yeah... Luckily, I don't have any siblings. Well, not anymore. Just a mentally handicapped uncle."

"What do you mean, 'not anymore'?"

"My... sister was killed when she was pretty young."

"Oh, I'm sorry... so sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. I'm way over it."

"What about this uncle of yours? Is he, uh... retarded? Don't mind me askin'?"

"Nah. He's actually super smart. He just has like the worst judgement of all time."

"Hmm... interesting."

"He's fun to be around most of the time, really. But wow, when he gets angry, all hell breaks loose."

"Yeah. Okay, let's get you your money." They walked behind the voting booths. All they were were thick columns with slits for money to be placed in and a safe on the back.

"Wait... how're you able to get the money for me?"

"I own this place. Duh!"

"Oh. Right." At that moment, Mark felt a deep vibration on his left shoulder. He was a little startled, but realized that Rose was asleep and was purring calmly. "Wow... Rose must be really tired."

"I can imagine, after fighting with one of _my_ pokémon."

"Ha! Yeah, I guess so. How long have you been a trainer?"

"Years. Many years. Even my younger brother Caleb has been one for about two."

"Wow. I can't believe I actually won to someone with as much experience as you."

"It's your Lucario. She's so strong... she's a really rare blend. You're super lucky."

"Well, I guess. She just evolved, like, this morning, and she's... I don't know how old. Pretty old. Eight? Nine?"

"I'm not surprised if she's that old."

"She's had a really rough childhood... that's actually the only reason why she's here right now. She saved me, and up until then she's been alone. She asked if I could take her, and I agreed."

"How nice of you. Welp, here's your money. Not exactly sure how much there is, you'll have to sort through it and open the envelopes yourself."

"Envelopes?"

"Yeah, in case the betters win. We gotta give the money back somehow."

"Okay, well, that's nice. I guess I can work on that when I stay the night here."

"Oh, you're staying?"

"Yeah. We should probably leave tomorrow, but I'll definitely stay tonight."

"Okay, well, why don't you come to our place tomorrow before you go? It'd be pretty nice to have some company."

"Yeah, okay. Who do you mean when you say 'we'?"

"Me and my bros."

"Oh. Y'all live together?"

"Yes. We're really roommates."

"Isn't your youngest brother, like, twelve?"

"Caleb? Yeah, he's thirteen actually. He wanted to come live with me and Jeremy, so we're just like okay."

"Alright, well, I have no idea where this place is."

"Ah, yes. Did you see that construction zone?"

"Yeah."

"We're on the south side, closest to the forest and right in front of that area. Someone can wait outside or something. When do you plan on coming?"

"Around lunch I guess, so... 11:30?"

"Okay, cool."

"Seeya then, I guess."

"Seeya then."

Mark walked away with his sack full of money-containing envelopes toward the inn. When he reached it, he was greeted by the receptionist at the counter. She looked a little concerned about the dog on his back.

"Hello."

"How ya doin'? Can I get a room?"

"Um... sure, but reservations are cheaper."

"That's kinda stupid. But whatever, how much is it?"

"40 Quoins per person per night."

"Ah. Not bad. Wait... what about pokémon?"

"Nope, since they're not really people. Honestly, I don't know why you wouldn't keep 'em in a pokéball all the time."

"I have only one."

"I see. Oh... it looks like we have only one room."

"Fine, whatever. As long as it's not totally gross." Mark found it a little odd for the inn of such a tiny town to be filled up.

"All of our rooms are clean upon arrival."

"Well then good. I'll take it."

"How long will you stay?"

"Just one night."

"Okay. Are you going to pay up front or later?"

"Later."

"Alright, sign this form." She gave him an official-looking sheet of paper that simply stated there is no excuse for not paying after staying. He signed it, she gave him his card key, and he went off to the room.

He realized he was going to have to wake Rose up, but he had no idea how to wake up a girl. "Rose! Rose, wake up!" he whispered. She slept on. He popped her up on his back, but she still continued to snore. Where could he touch her that wouldn't make him look like a perv? Then he did something that he would soon regret. He shot two of his fingers inside her ear. This time she immediately got up, and jumped off him with such great force that he fell to the ground.

"Oh, Mark, I'm sorry! I don't know what happened, I just felt this pain in my ear, and..."

"Rose, it's okay! It's my fault."

"How can this be your fault?"

"I shocked you awake."

"By shoving your finger in my ear?"

"...Yeah... sorry."

"Hmph."

"Rose, I'm sorry!"

"I know you are, just... don't do that again."

"Okay..."

"Where are we?"

"At the inn."

"I see. Which one is our room?"

"This one." He opened the room with the card key and they entered. The room was pretty simple, but very clean and quite spacious. There was the traditional air conditioner next to the windowsill. A TV was hooked to the wall, and a remote sat upon the shelf beneath the TV. The bathroom was pretty big, and a pure white.

"Oh, wow, this looks really nice."

"Hold on..."

"What? What's wrong?"

"I think... this is a couple's suite."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one, the bathroom is unusually large. Second, there's ONE queen-size bed in front of the TV. Trust me, this place was made for a husband and wife."

"Oh, right... I guess that does make sense." Rose began to fear that she would be stuck sleeping on the floor. "Well, what're we going to do about this situation? I mean, I'm officially a... woman, now, so... we can't... like, sleep together... on the same bed... I don't know, maybe we can."

"I agree, that seems strange now, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, ish."

"Hey, by the way, I forgot to ask you: how old are you?"

"I never told you? I'm thirteen."

"Thirteen? That's a long time to be a Riolu... I think."

"So what are we going to do? I don't want to sleep on the floor... it's all hard."

"You're right, me neither. Well, I suppose... sleeping in the same bed wouldn't be _that_ bad..."

"I was just thinking that."

"All we have to do is sleep on complete opposite sides, or divide it with a pillow or something."

"But, you know... you've never, uh... slept with a girl before, have you?"

Mark began to get a little concerned. "Excuse me?"

"I've... never slept with anyone, either. Maybe it wouldn't be a terrible idea to, you know... nevermind."

"Alright, whatever. I'm going to go get some supplies. You can watch some TV or something. Just guard the money, okay? Here's the card key if you need to go out for some reason." He scrambled together some envelopes and left in a flash.

"Ugh! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! Why would I say something so... so... impetuous? Ugh, I'm so stupid, and now I'm gonna feel embarrassed for saying that forEVER!"

"Hmm... I wonder what's up with Rose? She sure acted weird in there a few seconds ago... I'm sure she was just tired and thinking weirdly."

When Mark returned from his errands (at about 7:00), Rose opened the door for him and she immediately apologized. "Oh, Mark. I'm so sorry for my behavior earlier. It was completely inappropriate, and I'll never do it again, okay?"

"Um... okay. I accept your apology. I thought you were just tired or something. It's okay. Really. Anyways, I brought back some pizza and some pokéballs, so now I can capture as many pokémon as I want!"

"Are you going to make me sleep in one tonight? It isn't the most comfortable thing in the world."

"...No, I'm not. Let's just crack into this pizza and watch a movie or something."

"Okay, works for me."

So they did just that. They turned on the TV and looked through the channels, and Mark released Nimbus so he could watch as well. They debated whether to watch October Sky or An Eighth Eeveelution, but ended up watching Monty Ekans and the Important Goblet. After Mark finished sorting through all of the envelopes and storing the money safely in the unplugged microwave, he laid his back on the bed as Rose sat at the end of it. Nimbus had already fallen asleep.

"Rose... I know you're tired. I know you need comfort. Just because you're older doesn't mean you can't have that anymore." She turned away from the screen and looked at Mark in the pupils. "You can lie with me for now, okay?"

"O...kay..." she slowly crept towards his outstretched arms and let them capture her. She sighed against his soft chest, and couldn't help but blush. She was soon asleep again, far before the mentioning of the Bridge of Fainting in Scene 24. By the end, Mark was nearly asleep as well. But he kept his senses together and was able to scoot her to the window side of the bed, and positioned himself at the opposite.

* * *

Mark awoke to a sharp pain on his chest. He opened his eyes to find that Rose was sleeping directly on him, and her spike was stabbing his sternum. He was super surprised, but couldn't help but feel a little comfortable. She was sleeping so soundly, and she breathed so smoothly. Still, he didn't know what to do or say. "Rose, wake up, this is awkward... Rose. Rose! ROSE!" he cried, but she just wouldn't wake up. Nimbus did, however. And when he saw them on the bed like that, he was a little shocked, too.

"What on earth is going on? Why is she sleeping on you?"

"I don't know! I just woke up and she was on me! What do I do?"

"I don't know! Poke her eyes until she wakes up!"

"Okay, whatever you say..." Mark poked them really fast, and she woke up really fast. She put her paws on his chest and yawned, still unconscious of where exactly she was. She focused her eyes on Mark, who had a really worried expression.

"Mark! How did I wake up on you?"

"I don't know, you were just magically on me when I woke up!"

"Is that so?"

"Believe me, I didn't move you. I think you moved in your sleep."

"Okay, well, that isn't awkward at all."

"Yeah. You're still on me, you know." She blushed quickly, and then finally put her feet on the floor frustratedly. Mark sighed, and then asked, "What time is it?"

Nimbus responded, "I don't know, but it looks pretty late."

Mark looked at the clock on the bedside table. "11:00. Hey Rose, we... Rose?" He looked around but she wasn't there. He got up and noticed that the bathroom door was closed. "Rose? Are you in there?"

"Just... leave me alone," she said.

"What? Rose, what's wrong?"

"I said to leave me alone!"

"No. Rose, don't be so upset about sleeping on me. It's fine, really. Just an accident."

"Why do I keep on making you upset?"

"I'm not upset! You haven't made me upset once, ever since we met."

"Yes I have... I'm a bad girl."

Mark laughed. "No you're not, Rose!"

"Punish me, Mark. I can't live with this guilt."

"What are you talking about? I'm not going to do that. If you feel so bad about sleeping on me, I'll just tell you that I actually felt comfortable with you on me. I felt loved, and... warm, and... manly."

"*sniff* Really?"

"Yes, Rose. Your spike didn't hurt me at all, either. You've done nothing to be ashamed of. Either way, I need to use the bathroom to take a shower, so... you're going to have to come out sometime." He heard the door click unlocked, and Rose slowly emerged. Her heart was beating quickly, and her cheeks were as red as blue and black could get. Mark outstretched his arms. "Hug me, Rose. Let me show you that you didn't do anything wrong." He enclosed her in his grasp, and he squeezed as hard as he could a friendship hug. They parted. "Now, we're going to a lunch thing in half an hour."

"Lunch? Where?"

"Rick's house."

"That trainer from yesterday?"

"Yes, that trainer from yesterday. Now, I'm going to take a shower." He opened his backpack to get some clothes and locked himself in the bathroom. He took a shower. He got out of the shower. Rose wanted to take a shower too to be cool so she tried, and came out partially soapy and the bathroom floor was completely soaked with her fur water because she did not cover herself with a towel. Mark dried her himself with a towel, and then again with a hair dryer. "Okay, now that we're both all clean, let's go!"

Mark put Nimbus into a pokéball and then they left to go to the construction area. Sure enough, Caleb and his Ninetales were waiting for them. "Hello, I'm guessing you would be Mark?"

"Yeah. You're Caleb, right?"

"Mmhmm. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too." They shook hands. "...And who is this?" Mark pointed to the fox.

"I'm Caleb's Ninetales, Firestar."

"That's a nice name. Are you male... or female?"

"I am a female! Can you not tell?" Firestar said.

"How was I supposed to know?" She stuck her nose up in the air and didn't say anything. "What did I do?" he asked Caleb.

Caleb got on his tip-toes and whispered into Mark's ear. "She's on her period right now. Don't take anything she says personally. Believe me, she's a bundle of joy normally."

"Yeah, that's the way it is with all girls."

"Okay, well, let's go inside. I've been sitting out here forever."

"Why? It's only 11:35 or so."

"Yeah, I know. They said you'd be here by 11:00."

"They said I should come at 11:30."

"Are you serious? Ugh, sometimes they make me so... MAD! Come on, Firestar. Let's go inside and eat."

"Good, I'm starving," she said.

"Wait, how is she okay with talking to you?" Mark whispered again.

"I'm the only person that can talk to her or calm her down or anything when she gets like this. It's in the nature of being a trainer."

"Ah... I'm sorry, I should introduce you to my Lucario, Rose."

"Ah yes! Hello, Rose." They shook hands, and then they all walked inside.

Jeremy and his Machoke were chilling on the couch, watching TV. They greeted Mark and Rose warmly as well. "Hello there. Did you finally show up?"

"I finally showed up on time, thank you. I'm guessing you are Jeremy?"

"Yes, and my Machoke, Smith."

"Hi... Smith." Smith soluted casually but said nothing. "Can't you talk?"

"Oh. Yeah, sorry. That's just how I usually greet people," Smith said. He had the most deepest voice imaginable, and it seriously intimidated Mark.

"I'm Mark, and this is my Lucario, Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Rose," Jeremy said.

"Nice to meet you, too," Rose said.

Mark asked, "Where's Rick?"

"He's outside cooking," Jeremy replied.

Mark and Rose went outside to see Rick. He was at a grill by the in-ground pool. "Hey, Rick! Nice to see you again."

"Ah, hello Mark! I'm almost finished with the patties."

"Mmm... smells good."

"Thanks."

"Is Muddy okay? Where is he?"

"Yeah, he's at the bottom of the pool. He'll come up soon."

"Interesting. Does he like it down there?"

"Yep. Keeps him hydrated. I see Rose seems to be doing okay."

"Mmhmm! She's all rested up from yesterday's battle."

"Good. Hope Muddy didn't hurt her too bad."

"He didn't. She was super tired, though."

"I can bet... alright, I think these are done." Rick lifted several patties onto a spatula and flipped them onto a big ceramic plate. There were about fifteen already on the plate.

"Ooh... impressive."

"Haha. I've had a lot of experience."

"You're a cook?"

"Non-professionally, yes."

"I actually used to work at a burger place in Burgville!"

"Is that so? That's neat. What's it called?"

"HideOut Burgers. It's a really neat place. We even have a pokémon battle room."

"Wow, that's really cool."

"Yep, it's pretty much the place you want to be when you don't want to be anywhere. The people there are sure to cheer you up."

"It sounds wonderful."

"It was a real joy to work there... I wish I could've stayed."

"No, man! Nothing's better than being a pokémon trainer!"

"Then you haven't worked at HideOut Burgers."

"I suppose not... LUNCH IS READY!"

The other boys and girl came out to the patio and sat down at the table there, and Muddy rose up out of the pool. Jeremy brought out some condiments and placed them on the table, including ketchup, mustard, cheese, various vegetables, and the buns of course. Caleb brought out two big bags of chips.

"Why did you grill so many patties?" Rose asked. Rick answered her question by dumping about 20 into Muddy's open mouth. "Oh."

Mark leaned over to get some stuff for his patty, and Rose did the exact same thing he did. She even put onions on her burger. Firestar was aggravated with her bare bun, and several times did Caleb have to assuage her. They chatted quite a bit about pokémon training, giving Mark tips and tricks so he wouldn't have to read any signs.

When it was time for Mark and Rose to be on their way, it was nearly 4:00. Everyone was full from eating so many burgers and chips, but they were not ashamed from doing so. "Well, we should really get going now. Thank you all so much for inviting us, and I hope to see you again sometime."

"Well you're welcome, Mark. Come back anytime."

"We will. Goodbye, Rick, Muddy, Jeremy, Smith, Caleb, and, of course, Firestar."

A loud "goodbye" arose from six different mouths, and the boy and his jackal left the house to walk along the dirt path that lead into the woods.

* * *

For two hours had Mark and Rose been walking along the path. This path, which was simply dirt and rocks, lead to Solace City, which lay at the foot of an old, inactive volcano. It was nearly dusk, about 6:00. The trees masked out most of the sunlight anyway.

As the trainer and his pokémon were walking, they heard a sudden rustle in the grass. Mark got a pokéball at the ready, expecting something vicious to pop out and want to fight. But pretty much the exact opposite happened. Out popped a seven-tailed Vulpix, of all things, and went up to Rose, of all people. He sat and looked up at her. "Oh my goodness, I've never seen anything more beautiful than this in my life," he said. His eyes were blank with immersion of Rose's feminine charms.

"Really? You think I'm pretty?" she responded, and blushed. Again.

"No, I think you're... _beautiful."_ He looked at Mark. "Is this Lucario yours, trainer?"

Mark awkwardly replied, "Uh... yeah..."

"Then please accept me into your team! I want nothing more than this beauty of a woman!"

"Oh, um... I don't know. Rose, is that okay with you? Him coming along, I mean."

Rose knew in her heart she could never love anyone except Mark Clement, but she couldn't say no to such a cute proposition. "I, um... alright. That's fine with me."

"Alright then. Welcome to the club. (Wow, that was super easy!) I'm Mark, and this is Rose. What's your name?"

"Oh, what does it matter?" said the fox. "I have a new life now. Rename me!"

"Okay, then... how about Nova?"

"Sounds awesome! I love it!" They began to walk south again."

"So... how old are you?"

"Fourteen. And I'm ready to evolve, but I don't know where on earth I could possibly find a fire stone. I guess I shouldn't complain, since most Vulpixes don't live to be more than forty, and only the ones who have trainers ever have a hope of evolving."

"Well, don't worry. I don't know where to find one, but I promise you that we will."

"Oh! Thank you so much! You do realize that I will probably live for a thousand years if I become a Ninetales, right?"

"A thousand years? That's a long time!"

"Yeah, but I don't think any Ninetales in history has died of old age."

"Wow. That's pretty impressive. I take it you're quite good at battles, then? You've been alive for fourteen years."

"Yeah, I'm pretty good. My parents taught me well, but they were such... ahh. I hate them."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, but I will anyway. As you can imagine, my parents were Vulpixes as well. They really wanted what was best for me, but I never was really on board with what they had in mind. Probably because it would've killed me."

"What was that? How could be what was best for you kill you?"

"My clan was very, um... something. We have several rituals and events. But the alpha male and female of however many generations ago decided to create a new one. Their son and daughter were the most beautiful, the most powerful, most smartest male & female Vulpixes in all the clan, and they created a tournament that would decide who would be their partners. They called it 최고의 여우. Essentially, every male or female entered would battle another of the same sex to the death, and the last one would become the prince or princess and mate with the original one to create the best Vulpix imaginable."

"Überminch."

"Yep. But it isn't just battles. There are tests that challenge how you think, how you react to certain situations. They use ally psychic-types to mess with with your head. It's scary. And I admit, it'd be pretty cool to be the new prince of the clan, but I'm not willing to die for nothing. And besides, I found the most gorgeous pokémon my eyes have ever fixed on. That's _you,_ Rose."

"I understand completely. But how did you get way out here? I haven't seen any Vulpixes, well... ever."

"I ran away. Just like Queen Firestar, I ran away as far as I could from my clan."

Mark and Rose looked at each other. _"Queen_ Firestar?"

"Yep. She was my childhood hero. Well, the stories of her were."

"Stories? Was she a Ninetales?"

"Yes, she was! She was one of the only ones of us able to get her paws on a fire stone. She was actually the one who gave birth to the queen who would give birth to the two "perfect" Vulpixes. But... her last story was that she ran away to die, so no one would have to burn her or mourn."

"We saw a Ninetales named Firestar just, like, two or three hours ago! In a town called Balik!"

"Are you serious? I'm not sure I believe that."

"No, it's true! She had a trainer named Caleb who's twelve years old."

"Queen Firestar? In a trainer's hands? I disbelieve this even more! Well did she seem pretty joyful to you?"

"Actually, no. She was super cranky, but that was because..." Mark knelt down next to Nova and whispered. "...she was in her heat. But Caleb said she was 'a bundle of joy' most of the time."

"Okay, now I'm starting to believe you. The stories say she had a particularly bad habit of getting into the worst of moods possible and deriding everyone whenever she got into heat."

"The_ stories?_ The actually bookmarked how she acted when she was on her period? I mean, she _was_ super rude to us."

"Rude enough to be legend. I'm just shocked she's still-possibly-alive, let alone so close."

"Legend? How old should she be, exactly?"

"Geez, I don't know. Six, seven hundred years?"

"That old? I thought she was, like, sixteen!"

"That's the way it is with all Ninetales. The only show signs of age in the last 120 years or so of their life."

"Wait, didn't you say not a single Ninetales lived to be a thousand?"

"Yeah, but the oldest one we know of lived to be about nine hundred, and started to age by then. He was killed, so... yeah."

"I see. Exactly how far away are you from home again?"

"Well, only a few inches now. But I guess you're referring to my clan's home. I've been running away for at least two weeks solid. They're on the other side of the neighboring region. I would have a hard time believing they could follow me or I could go back."

"Wow. I'm sorry, would you mind if I carry you? You just look so warm and fuzzy and comfortable to hold!"

"Sure! My paws are getting kind of soiled from walking on this ground."

Mark picked Nova up by the stomach. He was really heavy, but Mark could take the weight. "Awesome. Does this feel okay?"

"Just fine."

"Wow, you're pretty clean for being in the wild for so long. And you have such a pretty shade of mahogany fur! Doesn't he look pretty to you, Rose?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. You do look really handsome, Nova," she said passively.

"Come on, pet him! He's so soft and warm! I know he wants you to."

"Actually, can we take a break? My legs kind of hurt."

"Yeah, sure. I don't think we've stopped for a break or snack at all yet."

They all sat down. Nova went over to Rose and lay his head across her thigh as Mark got out some old pizza and Nimbus. Rose felt kind of awkward, but couldn't help but stroke Nova's curled head fur and feel comfort and love. Nova nudged her arm, trying to show her affection.

"Nova, don't you think you're a bit... young for me?"

"Absolutely not!" he replied. "If that 최고의 여우 wasn't in existence, I would've had my first pups years ago. You don't look that old yourself. Just how old are you?"

"I'm... thirteen..."

"Ha! Older than you!"

"Who's this?" Nimbus asked.

"I'm Nova."

"Did Mark do awful things to you to get you to come along, like he did to me?"

"No, I didn't," Mark said. "I let him join because he is infatuated with Rose. And she doesn't seem to mind, _and_ I need a fire-type, _AND_ he's soft and comfy!"

"Oh. I still don't understand why you were so tough with me!"

"Alright. A: you tried to run away. That's extremely dishonorable for any pokémon. B: you insulted and hurt both Rose and me!"

"Fair enough."

"Okay, guys. Should we set up shop here, or keep moving?"

"I'm kind of wanting to press on."

"I say what Rose says," Nova said.

"I'm super tired. Let's drop here," Rose sighed.

"I, too, am in need of rest as well also," Mark said.

"Come on! I haven't done anything but sleep in that pokéball all day, and now_ you're_ going to sleep?" Nimbus complained.

"Yes. Just keep watch! That's not boring, and it'll keep us safe!"

"Fine then! Maybe I will! But for the record, that sounds super boring."

"Well, Nova! We've heard all about you. Would you like to hear about us?"

"Sure. I'd _especially_ love to hear about Rose, though."

"Alright. Well, I used to be a cook at an awesome sauce restaurant until my dad lost his job for reasons unknown. So I had to become a trainer. Actually, before that, Rose saved me and she came along with me when she was a Riolu. She evolved yesterday morning, and we fought a huge battle and won lots of money, which I'm going to mail to my parents tomorrow when we arrive at Solace City."

"Wow... I'm sorry about that. Sounds pretty rough."

"I," began Rose, "was born in the Greenstone area as well, which is where we're headed. My dad left my mom about the time I was born, which is pretty sad, I guess. I never knew him. My mom gave me to some poachers for her own safety, until I was miraculously rescued by a scientist. I just traveled along the rim of Lake Lundi, avoiding contact with everything until I found a tiny cave to live in. Then Mark literally stumbled upon me. I asked if I could go home with him, and he and his parents approved."

"That's it? That's your whole life's story?"

"Yep."

"There aren't any specifics? Come on, I want to learn more about you!"

"You want to hear about the_ specifics?"_

"Um... sure?" Mark was shaking his head, trying to warn Nova.

Rose's voice became dark and angry. "Okay. I stayed in the same filthy cell that reeked of blood and bones for at least five years, who knows how long it really was, watching other pokémon, including Vulpixes and Ninetaleses, getting euthanized for pelts and your so-called 'mysterious power' within your tails that were being put into _scarfs_ and _toothbrushes!_ I watched Lucario older and much tougher than I struggle to protect their precious steel spikes as those monsters welded them off! I even saw rape! Every day I would wake up fearing that my ivory would be next! How's that for specifics?"

"I'm... sorry... I didn't..." Nova began to cry out of shame, fear, embarrassment, and sorrow.

"Whoa, Nova. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings so bad."

"I didn't mean... to hurt yours... so bad..."

"It's okay." She pulled him close up to her chest. She hugged his tears and pain away. Then she laughed. "You're not older than me. Not even close. You're still a little kid in the head."

"W-what? I'm fourteen! A-and you're-"

"Look at yourself! You started crying because the girl you love got angry at you! A real male would've sucked it up and apologized formally. You may be fourteen, but I'm far more mature than you are."

Then he sucked it up. And he did a good job. "I apologize, Rose." He unattached himself from her and sat in between Mark's legs, where both of them felt comfortable and where Mark could show him love.

"Wow. Impressive."It was true. Nova was naturally immature. But that wasn't going to stop him from getting Rose. He figured that he could grow more mature by evolving, so that was his officially his mission update.

"Nimbus, I don't think anyone's heard _your_ story." Mark said.

"My backstory isn't real interesting. Essentially I was able to annoy my previous trainers into letting me go. Then I found Mark, harassed him a little, he said sorry, I said sorry, and I joined his group. I think that if he is training us for a good cause, such as saving his family, and not his own gain, then I-we all-should help him as best as we can."

"Wow. I didn't realize that. You really mean that?"

"Mmhmm."

Nova said, "I forgot to ask you two how old you were."

"I would happen to be fifteen," Mark said as he stroked Nova's spine.

"I'm sixteen," Nimbus said.

"Really? That's too long to be a Pidgey."

"I used to be super duper lazy."

"Well, now that you've joined my team, you can be put to work and evolve."

"That's just great," Nimbus said sarcastically.

"Hey... I just realized. What are we doing for beds?" Nova asked.

"I can be your bed tonight," Mark said lovingly.

"Why can't Rose?"

"Nova... that's awk. I'll make this simpler. You have three options: a pokéball, the grass, or me. Which will it be?"

"You, I guess."

"Where are you going to sleep, Rose?"

"Just... over here. Far enough away from you."

"Whoa. What's her deal?" Nova whispered to Mark as she walked over to her little spot.

"Last night, we had to sleep on the same bed, and when I woke up, Rose was like, directly on top of me. I don't think she wants to be embarrassed like that again," Mark whispered back.

"I see. Gosh, you're so lucky. I would've given _anything_ for that."

"What about you, Nimbus?"

"I will stay up in this tree, and watch you guys while you sleep."

"Ah yes. Okay, well, I guess this is goodnight."

They all said goodnight to each other and soon they were all asleep. Apart from Nimbus, of course, who was keeping watch.

"Guys, wake up!" Nimbus called. It was extremely dark now, and the team had only been asleep for about four hours.

"What? What is it?" Mark tried to say.

"There's something coming towards us! I'm not sure what it is!"

"Huh? Nova, wake up!" Mark shoved at the fox, who woke up quickly.

"What's wrong, Mark? Was it me?" he asked.

"No, Nimbus says there's... something... where is it, Nimbus?" He was having a hard time believing Nimbus didn't get bored.

"It's just right over there!" Nimbus pointed into the woods.

"I don't see anything. It's too dark. Nova, can you make some fire?" Nova responded immediately by breathing a mighty flame from his throat, and turning him into a walking torch.

It was instantly visible as no light seemed able to be cast on it. A black, watery blob with an anthro body was walking towards Mark and his companions. It was shorter than the human boy, and the only part of it that was not translucent was its two white eyes. Behind it was a long, infinitely thin tail that stretched far off into the forest behind it. It was as if Shikamaru had created a 3D shadow jutsu to haunt them.

"What on earth is that?" asked Rose, who had miraculously woken up.

"I don't know... I've never heard of anything that looks like this." Mark said. "Hello? Who are you?"

It stopped walking and looked at Mark. Fear encased his entire body._ "We... need... darkness..."_ it said, without opening its mouth (if it had one at all).

"We? W-Who's we? There's only one of you."

_"We... need... darkness... give... dark... pokémon..."_

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't have any. And if I did, why would I give it to you?"

_"He... lies... release... it... free... it..."_

"I don't have any!"

_"We... shall... free... all... darkness..."_ Right after saying that, it shrunk paper-thin onto the ground, making it a shadow. This shadow came at Mark at unbelievable speed. It wrapped around his legs and began to cover his entire body. He couldn't move at all, both out of fear and sheer force.

"Nova! Rose! Nimbus! Do something!"

Rose ran up to Mark and tried to stab it, but only Mark felt pain. She apologized quickly, then tried to hit it with a bone staff, but again, she only hurt her master.

"I c-can't... seeee..." The shadow completely enveloped his body, and he lost all control. All he was was a solid shadow, standing there as if he was frozen in solid ice.

In his mind, Mark was alone and in complete darkness. Before his mind's body opened two giant white eyeballs with small pitch pupils that looked neither human nor pokémon. Then two devilish lips parted and began to speak to Mark.

_"I know who you are, Markus."_ Its voice was like death itself.

"Who... are you?"

_"But you needn't worry. You are nothing to me. And I know you are not lying. My minions are simply fools."_

"I said, WHO ARE YOU?"

_"Do not raise your voice at me! Sigh... but if you must know, I am darker than black, and blacker than Zekrom. Ah, good old Zekrom. He was the biggest fool of them all. Leaving home to live among you human scum, abandoning his family's traditions! I knew something was up when he started devolving into using electricity... bah. Whatever. My name is Omber. Lord of all Darkness. I apologize for the way my minion has treated you. They will bother you no longer. But I must insist that you do not interfere."_

"You have more of these... minions?"

_"As many as I want. Now I warn you, do not interfere."_

"With what? What is it that you want so much?"

_"I want dark pokémon. Do not hinder my minions from collecting them. And believe me, it's not that difficult to."_

"Why do you want them?"

_"I have said too much already. I may tell you more, if you swear to devote your life to helping me."_

"I don't like the way this sounds. But sure. I will devote my life to helping you."

_"Excellent! It appears not all humans are scum after all! My goal is to take control of... EVERYTHING."_

"WHAT? No way am I helping you! I'm going to keep all dark-types away from you, no matter how hard you may try to take them!"

_"WHAT?"_

"Honestly, I don't even know how you intend to do that."

_"Now I must destroy you!"_

"WHAT?"

"What do we do?" Rose panicked.

"I don't know!" Nova panicked.

"Wait a minute... I think I know what to do!" Nimbus epiphanized. "It didn't respond to Rose's attacks because she was only using physical ones! This pokémon is a ghost! I hate to say it, but... Nova, you need to conflagrate Mark!"

"What?"

"Burn him to a crisp!"

"But I..."

"Do it! You're a fire fox, right? Only you can do this!"

"But Mark might..."

"Quickly! We don't know what's happening to him! He'll be okay unless you sit there and do nothing!"

Ever so reluctantly, Nova brought out his powers taught to him by his parents and spewed blaze from his mouth upon Mark. The shadow encasing him began to recede, starting at the crown of his head, and soon it had fled from him and went back into the murky forest.

Mark was on fire, but he was able to fall and scream. He started to roll around. "Stop, drop, and roll! Stop, drop, and roll!" he yelled. As soon as skin was extinguished, Rose came over to him and started to heal his burns with her aura and he said, "What the crap just happened? Why was I just on fire?" Nova looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact. It was pretty obvious to Mark what had happened, even in his state of shock. "Nova?"

The fox then looked at Mark straight in the eye and whimpered, "M-master, I'm sorry... I had to... I didn't want to hurt you... Please forgive me!"

"Nova, come here." Mark outstretched his hot arms, even though it hurt. Nova was confused, but did so anyway. Mark gave him a big hug. "Thank you. You saved me. Honestly, that was pretty impressive."

"Wha-?"

"Not only were you able to shake off that _thing,_ you were brave enough to hurt me. I wouldn't have made it if it weren't for you."

"Oh... well, thank you, Mark."

"What happened to you when that shadow covered you? Do you even remember?" Rose asked.

"Yes, I do. It appears that we officially have a nemesis."

* * *

**Summary** (for my worst enemies):

Nimbus decided to stay with Mark's party. At the town hotel, Mark and Rose are forced to sleep on the same bed because the floor smelled like dirty beans. When Mark woke up, Rose was lying directly on top of him. She got super embarrassed, but was mostly okay. They visit some new friends. On their way to Solace City, a wild Vulpix comes up to them and says Rose is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. He is pretty immature, but powerful nonetheless. So Mark accepts his request to join their group. Mark names him Nova. Later that night, Nimbus wakes everybody up when he sees a mysterious dark figure. It appears to be a pokémon. It wraps Mark up with its shadow, and he is able to speak with "Omber", a dark-type pokémon who wants to use other dark-types to take over the world. Nova freed Mark by burning both him and the "shadow minion" before Mark's mind was destroyed by Omber.


	6. A lament from the author

Chapter 6 - Osorro

"You see anything yet?" Mark asked.

"Nope. Just a bunch of trees."

"Well, we gotta be getting closer to Solace City. We've been walking for at least four hours."

"Can you imagine trying to build this dirt road? It seems to go on forever."

"Well, humans can be very determined... when we want to be."

There was a minute of silence while the trainer and his pokémon walked along the gravel. "This hurts my feet."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like to travel in here?" Mark showed her an empty pokéball.

"No, I enjoy being with you more." She grasped his lower arm with both of hers.

"Aww... thanks, Rose. Hey, I meant to ask you... what do you think of Nova?"

She let go of him. "Oh... he's... alright, I guess."

"You don't like him that much, do you."

"No, I do. He's real cute and funny and lovable, but I don't love him. Not like he loves me."

"Why not?"

"Well, first off, I'm a Lucario. Aren't I supposed to love Lucario males?"

"It does seem appropriate. But you don't have to if you don't want to. It's important to choose someone who loves you for who you and you love for who he is, not how hot he may look or what he can give to you. Those are good perks, though."

"That makes sense. Thanks for that advice. But either way, Nova is... pretty immature, too."

"Well, maybe he'll get better when he evolves."

"And that's another thing. Us Lucario live to be ninety at the very oldest. I don't want my mate to live for much longer. But Nova... he'll probably live for a thousand years, no?"

"I can respect that." Several minutes passed as they thought about something to say. "Hey... by the way, about the night before last night?"

"Hm? What about it?" Rose started to get a little nervous. "I told you I was sorry for... you know..."

"It's not that."

"Huh?"

"Why did you seem... I don't know... so willing to sleep in the same bed?"

"Oh, um... well, you know. We had done it before back at your house, right? What difference is there?"

"Yeah, but you said it was fine until you became a Lucario. You were just a little kid, basically."

"Well, let's sleep separate from now on, okay?"

"Okay. But that also reminds me: why did you make that joke about my groin? That was super weird."

"Look, I'm sorry I did that. I was much less mature myself as a Riolu. Kids like to make jokes like that, don't they?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Well... do you see anything now?"

Rose's sensors levitated in the air, and she looked as far down the road as possible. "Uh... yeah. I can see the city, but just barely. It'll take at least twenty more minutes to get there.

"Great! Hey, I forgive you. Just... so you know."

"Thank you. You're truly a good friend, Mark."

-about 40 minutes later, in a two-bed hotel room-

"Wow, we get a pretty good view of the lake from here. Too bad it isn't about five miles closer."

"I'm just glad we have two beds. I don't wanna be waking up on you again."

"Yeah. Alright, I'ma let out the rest of the team." Mark pulled out the spheres from his pocket and let out the rest of the team. "We made it to Solace City, guys!"

"Oh, wow! What kind of place is this?" Nova asked.

"Oh, right... you've been in the wild your whole life. This is a hotel room. It's basically a place to stay for a while. It costs money to stay for each night, so we won't be staying here for long. But we'll be staying here for a lot longer than in Balik Town. This city is really big, and there's a lot to explore!"

"Do you think we can find a fire stone here?"

"I don't think so. Even if we could, it'd cost at least twenty times more than I have already. Speaking of which, I need to find the post office so I can mail some money to my parents. I think I'll go do that now, just to get it out of the way. Can you all not get into trouble?"

All three pokémon nodded and said goodbye as Mark left to go find a post office. As he went down the elevator and around town looking for the post office, his team kinda just chilled on the seventh floor.

"Can we go outside? It's boring in here," Nova said.

"Well, I guess we could go out in the hall." Rose opened the door, and she went out with Nova. Aerius stayed in the room. The hall was nothing special, but Nova was staring in awe at everything. Rose went over to a window at the east side of the building. She saw much of the rest of the city, but also saw a massive mountain. It looked quite pretty, but her attention to it didn't last for long.

"Um... excuse me?" said a very manly voice from behind her. She turned 'round to see a beautiful male Lucario standing there, looking a little shy. She couldn't help but feel attracted to him.

"Oh... hi. Do you... need something?"

"No, no. I just... I've never seen a female like you before... you look really pretty."

Rose blushed. "Oh... thank you. I, uh... you look pretty, too. For a male, I mean."

Nova looked over and instantly became envious. "Hey! Get away from her, you!" he growled.

"Nova, back off! I've never seen a male Lucario in person before..."

"Who's this little fox?" the male asked.

"He's just part of my team. He loves me."

"Oh... but I'm guessing you don't love him?"

"I might in time, but not currently."

"So you are part of a team?"

"A very recent team. My trainer... he desperately needs our help. I could not leave him."

"I'm sorry to hear that... I because I am part of a team as well."

"Oh... oh well."

"What do you mean, 'oh well'? I may be the only Lucario you see in a long time."

"Well, it's... confusing."

"I can't say I believe in love at first sight, but..."

A hotel door opened. A young teen boy and a Buizel walked out. "Alright, I'm coming to find you, Rue!"

The male gasped and tried to hide himself a little. "What's wrong?" Rose asked him.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing," he said.

The boy looked over at the two jackals. "Rue, is that you?" he asked Rose.

"Who, me?"

"Yeah, you. Don't play dumb, I found you! A good attempt, but you might want to hide in the foyer next time."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, wait... you really are a Lucario, aren't you."

"Uh... yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm just playing some disguise-and-seek with my Zoroark. It's a game we made up to put her super spy skills to the test! Is this Lucario here your mate?"

"Oh! No, no, no! I only just met him."

"Just met... wait a minute..." the boy looked at the male Lucario. "Rue?"

At the sound of her name, the male Lucario suddenly lost his shape and began growing and warping into the figure of a very different creature with black fur, red hair, focused eyes and very female breasts. Rose nearly went into shock at the sight.

"Wait, you're... _**not**_ a Lucario?" Rose said.

"Are you kidding me?" the Zoroark replied.

"And you're... _**not**_ male?"

"Absolutely not!"

"That is messed **_up_**! I actually... thought you were... cute..."

"I was just messing with ya. I rarely see a Lucario, let alone female. Thought I might try to practice my figure while I could..."

"I... understand. It's okay. Is this your trainer?"

"Yeah. He's a really nice kid. I like him a lot."

"Do you have a name?"

"Yeah. I'm Lance," the boy said. "...and this is my Zoroark, Rue, and my Buizel, Stanley!"

"Hello, Stanley." The Buizel was relatively small. He was also quite young, but old enough to hold his own. He could be referred to as cute, but his eyes made him look dull and unimpressed. "I suppose I should introduce my teammate, Nova."

"Wow, he looks really cute! And warm, and fuzzy!"

"So... are you... staying here for a while, or...?"

"Nah, we're travelling. I think we're going to be here for a couple more days, but we're headed off towards Rockfall City, where my family lives."

"Hey, wait... is Greenstone on the way to this 'Rockfall City', by chance?"

"Why, yes, it is. Why do you ask?"

"That's where our trainer is headed! To Greenstone, I mean."

"Are you suggesting we team up?"

"I suppose so. Why not?"

"I like the idea of travelling with another human... we just came from over the mountains, see, and there's nothing in sight for miles except desert. What's your trainer's name?"

"Mark. He's fifteen."

"Oh... I... he's one year older than me."

"So?"

"Nothing, really. I just don't... he might feel that he has the upper hand because he's older."

"Mark wouldn't do that. I'm thirteen, and he treats me like we're the same age."

"Hmm... well, I'd still like to meet him first. In the meantime, me and my pokémon are going to go get some brunch. My room is, well, right next to yours. So I'll be expecting a few knocks from this Mark later. Okay?"

"Okay. Bye!"

"Seeya." Lance walked away, into the elevator, and the doors shut.

"Wow. I did NOT expect that," Nova said.

"What?" Rose asked.

"That Lucario to transform into a female Zoroark, of all things."

"Oh. Yeah."

"I thought I was gonna have some competition."

"Yeah... she made a really good male. But..." she trailed off.

"But what?"

"Nothing. It's nothing." She was, in fact, reminding herself of how much she likes Mark. "I wonder what other type of pokémon he has."

"Me too. So what would you like to do until Mark gets back?"

"Hey, Rose, Nova. What're you doing out here?" It was Mark.

"O-oh! Mark! We were just exploring the hallways! I didn't know you were coming back so soon!"

"Turns out the post office was just across the street. I don't suppose either of you had any wild adventures while I was gone, did you?"

"Not really. But Rose met a male Lucario! Sort of."

"Did you really, Rose? That's great!"

"Well, he wasn't... really a Lucario. He wasn't even a male. She was really another trainer's Zoroark who shape-changed to look like a male Lucario," Rose said.

"Oh. That's too bad."

"But! The trainer who owns her is staying right next to our room, and says he is going to Rockfall City, which is on the way to Greenstone. So I asked him if he'd like to team up with you and us. He said maybe, but said he'd like to meet you first."

"I agree. Well, in the meantime, what would you like to do?"

"I honestly have no idea. Because this city is huge."

"Good! Because I heard there was a small little fair in the park this week. Would you like to go there?"

"Sure, why not?"

"That sounds super lame. I'm going in your pocket," said Nova.

"Alright, suit yourself. See you later, I suppose," said Mark, then got out a ball and pulled Nova in, and then opened the room door and pulled Nimbus in. "Let's go!"

Mark and Rose went outside and to the park, where the fair was. There were about twenty tents set up, all different colors, but two completely different ones at the front appeared to be featured. The left one was blue- and green- striped, and immensely large. The sign in front said, "Test your courage for a free pokémon!" but wasn't open yet. The other one was red- and orange-striped, and big enough to cover the heat area of a campfire made with a pair of socks. It, however, was open and had a friendly but mysterious looking man out front, ushering people passing by to "Give a dollar and get your fortune told! Foolproof fortune-telling by Gildam the Gardevoir!"

"Hmm! Fortune-telling, huh? Sounds promising if it's being told by a Gardevoir," Mark said.

"I don't know... fortune-telling is always kind of scammy, right?"

"Yes, but Gardevoir really can see into the future. You want to go first?"

"No, you go."

"Very well."

They walked up to the guy at the front, who until just recently they realized was wearing getup stranger than his both Italian and Arabic accent. He was wearing a red and orange robe, much like the tent he stood before, and a ropey sash. But what was weirdest about him was a psychic-pendant chain necklace that he wore around his head. "Are you looking to get your fortunes told?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"The price is only one dollar!" Mark handed him one dollar. "Thank you very much! Head on inside!" Mark headed on inside.

He expected to see a glowing purple orb in the center of the tiny tent, but all there was was a chest, a few books, about seven lit candles scattered about, and two cushions. On the one opposite the door sat a handsome-looking male Gardevoir who greeted Mark upon entry. "Hello. You seek to have your fortune told?"

"Yes."

"Sit down. It will help if you are comfortable."

"Oh. Okay. Thank you."

"Now, what would you like to know about? You may ask me three questions. Take your time; clarity is key."

"Alright, let me think... okay! Let's see if you are a fraud first."

"Excuse me? I am a Gardevoir! I was born to see into the future!"

"Question one! Where will I be in about a week from now?"

The Gardevoir put his hands to his head and closed his eyes. "I see... a city... a **_vast_** city... quite far from here... and it is also your birthplace... you should be in Greenstone by the end of next week."

"Excellent. Alright, I believe you. That's where I'm headed."

"Told you so."

"Question two. Is my family going to be alright?"

"Hmm..." he did the future-seeing hands-to-head thing again. "Hmm... based upon the fact that you continue down your current path, I believe they will be unchanged when you return to them. Unless a sudden event occurs that disrupts my prediction, yes."

"Phew! That's a relief. But you can't really see _**exactly**_ what's going to happen, can you. You just see what's going to happen if everything remains constant, right?"

"...Yes. You got me. I never know exactly what's going to happen, but I can give a pretty good guess. That's why I always say, 'if you continue down your current path'. If one gets the idea that everything will be fine because I said so, and decide not to do whatever they need to for my prediction to come true, then I would be a fraud."

"I see."

"Your third question?"

"Yes, my... third question. Am I... going to get married to my girlfriend, Sadie?"

"Ohp! Well, a love situation is always difficult to predict, but I shall try my best. Hmm... hur... um... mmm... oh, how interesting."

"What?"

"How **_very_** interesting... and complicated... and obscure... and split."

"What do you see?"

"Now, nothing I say is for certain, but... I see that if you do not marry this 'Sadie' soon, you will find new love. Love that no one will expect, and love that you may not want."

"But... I don't have time to go back home and date her! Do you know who the girl I will fall in love with is?"

"I'm sorry, I really have no idea. She might not even be a girl. Love is such a volatile thing... do not trust my words on this question."

"But what should I do? You said my family would be alright if I continue down this path, which I assume is keep training and heading to Greenstone, but I can't make money training in Burgville _**and**_ date Sadie at the same time! If I do, my family will be homeless within a month."

"Well, first of all, you are out of questions. But even so, I cannot answer a question like that. That is a question you have to answer for yourself, because it deals with right and wrong."

"Yeah, I know... but it's just so hard! I don't even know who this new girl will be!"

"It is quite a dilemma. But if you want my advice, I would simply continue down your current path. Family is very important, and you probably won't mind loving someone new because, well, you will love them. And it is not like Sadie will hate you for breaking up. I mean, she might... but she probably won't."

"That makes sense."

"Do not rush yourself to choose an answer to a question of this magnitude. It is always, **_always_** good to think slowly."

"Thanks for your time, Gildam, is it?" Mark got up.

"Yes. You're welcome. Goodbye, Mark. Take care of your pokémon."

"How did you... oh, wait. Psychic. I will."

He exited the tent and Rose was waiting, looking a little impatient and annoyed at the both Italian and Arabic man. "So how was it?" she asked.

"Uh... it was, well... you go ahead and go. I'll tell you about it later."

"Hmm." She tried to enter, but the man stopped her.

"Sorry! You need a dollar to enter!" he said.

"Oops. Sorry," Mark said, then gave him another dollar.

Rose went inside and Mark could vaguely hear Gildam say, "Ah! A pokémon! This should be easy," before the curtain shut. Mark went over to a nearby park bench to wait.

When Rose came out about two minutes later, she looked quite horrified, actually. She looked around for Mark, then sat down right next to him and closed her eyes tightly. "Hold me," she whimpered.

"Huh? Rose, what's wrong?" Mark did not hold her.

"Mark, hold me."

"Okay..." Mark slowly and awkwardly wrapped his arm behind her back and around her side. "What's wrong, Rose? What did the Gardevoir say to you? You can tell me."

"Okay, well, first, I asked if Nova would evolve."

"Mmhmm..."

"He said yes."

"Okay, cool."

"Then, I asked if I would see either of my parents again."

"And?"

"He said I would most likely see them _**both**_ again, but much longer to see my dad, who I actually don't mind meeting."

"Good! I guess. So what was the third thing? Is that why you look so upset?"

"Mmhmm. I asked... about my future mate."

"Oh? What did he say?"

"He didn't say much (LIE). But he did say that that question was a little ambiguous because..."

"Because...?"

"He said someone was gonna try to _**rape**_ me," Rose thought.

"What? No way! I am **_not_** going to let that happen to you, Rose." She clung to him tighter, and he was left in an even more awkward situation. So he didn't do anything. "And besides, you won in a battle against a raging Swampert! You're incredibly strong. I would find it hard to imagine you helpless against... well, anything."

"I like your confidence, but let's just not talk about it."

"Okay." They sat on that bench silently for a good five minutes before Mark got **_serenely_** bored. "Come on, let's go check out some other tents. That should cheer you up."

"O-Okay."

Rose finally started to cheer up once she had aced a dunk tank with her eyes closed, after Mark had failed at shooting some hoops, both had gotten a sketchy (but good) portrait drawn, and had a mid-morning snack.

"So what did you ask the fortune-teller?"

"Oh, uh... well, first I asked where we would be in a week, and he said in Greenstone. Only reason I asked that was to see if he really could see into the future. Then, I asked if my family would be okay. He said if I continue training and stuff, then they would. But then it got complicated."

"Oh? What did you ask next?"

"I asked if I would marry Sadie."

"Oh..."

"He said that... if I do continue training and stuff, then no, probably not." Rose couldn't help but feel a lot better about the entire situation. "But this is a huge problem for me, because I _**do**_ want to date Sadie, but if I do, then I can't raise money for my family."

"That does sound like a pretty difficult decision to make. If I were you, I wouldn't go back home. Your family could be homeless if you return, and you and Sadie might not even really feel that you're right for each other. Believe me, you should keep going on. And besides, what use will you have for Nimbus and Nova? They're just more dead weight and food consumers."

"I see your point. I'm still going to think about it, but that does make a lot of sense."

They had just begun to exit the fair when Mark's eye caught the other tent at the front, which had at least thirty boys about his age there at the front. Actually, it was pretty hard for it _**not**_ to catch anyone's eye.

"What's going on over there?" Rose asked.

"I don't know. Let's check it out, then we'll leave. Wait, this is that Win a Free Pokémon tent, isn't it?"

"I guess. I don't know."

"Hey, you! What's going on here?" Mark asked some kid nearby.

"This game here is practically giving away free pokémon! And as far as I can tell, they're really powerful ones, too! That kid over there just got a Manectric!" the guy said.

Wow. Sounds like my kind of game! I'm gonna do it!" Mark pushed through the crowd to get a closer look. He soon regretted doing so or even considering playing, because before him on a four-inch raised stage was a shuddering young boy in a blindfold sticking his hand into a bowl filled to the brim with loamy, slimy worms.

"I got it!" said the blinded boy, and he pulled his hand out, along with a couple of worms. But he had also pulled out a red and white sphere.

"Excellent! Well done!" said a shady-looking figure in a cape who appeared to be running the event. "Who's next? We've only got four pokéballs left for today!"

"Hmm... worms? They're gross, but... I can deal with it, I think," Mark said to Rose, who nodded in agreement. "I guess I will do it." Mark raised his hand slowly and shyly. There were at least fifteen other hands raised intently and shaking, begging to be chosen. Luckily for him, the mysterious man saw Mark's dubiousness and pointed to him.

"Come on up here, son! Don't be shy... unless you want to search in **_that_** bowl," said the man, and pointed to a giant blue bowl amongst three normal-sized red ones as Mark climbed up on the stage.

"Why? What's in there?"

"A-ha-ha! That would ruin the entire point of the game, now wouldn't it? You have to see-or, rather, feel-for yourself! But that one does contain a great ball, which contains debatably the best pokémon seen today."

"Hmm... great ball? Sounds promising..."

"I should tell you that nothing in this tent could possibly hurt you, unless provoked."

"Well... okay! I'll do it!" There was a large cheer from the crowd. Rose was looking a little worried.

"You'll need to wear this," the man said as he tied a blindfold around Mark's eyes. "And know that the ball will be shrunk down to pocket size, so this big bowl will make it extra tough!"

The man uncovered the cloth from the ceramic bowl, and Mark moved his hand closer to it. Everyone else, including Rose, could see the contents of the bowl, and they all gasped at the sight. Using telepathy, she warned her master of the horrors within. "Live tarantulas?!"

**_"Live tarantulas?!"_** Mark repeated, and pulled his hand away from the bowl. There were a couple **_boo_**s in the crowd.

"Hey! No peeking!" said the man.

"I didn't... I just knew. Well, there must be something good in there, because I wouldn't do this on a regular daily basis." Then he swallowed and slowly shoved his hand in the bowl among the writhing, hairy legs and bodies. He was scared, but trusted the man's promise and kept searching around. A few spiders began to crawl across his forearm, but never passed his t-shirt sleeve.

"Mark, I can see the ball with aura!" Rose thought. "It's a little to your left, and down!" Mark quickly went to that general location and gripped a small, metal sphere; he pulled it out, swept a spider off the back of his hand, and unblinded himself. Heroically, he raised the great pokéball up in the air and took a proud stance. The crowd of teens cheered, including Rose.

The man said, "Young man, I never would have done that. I congratulate you."

"Thank you," Mark said back.

"I found that ball laying right on the border of the Soti and Redugo regions. And I hate to admit it, but I don't know if the pokémon inside is alright."

"I don't really care at this point. But thanks for the heads up. And... the pokémon."

"You're welcome. Now! Who's next?" Mark stepped down and out of the crowd full of hand-raising teens. They went back to the park bench and Mark wondered what could possibly be inside. Luckily he didn't have to wait long because Rose was actually pretty curious, too, and was urging him to open it up. So he did.

Out of the blue steel pokéball came a Mightyena. He had fierce eyes but a calm expression. Mark was impressed and happy at first but then remembered last night. "He's a dark-type..." he recalled. "What's your name?"

"Osorro. Male. Fifteen years old. I'm guessing you are my master?"

"Yeah. This is my Lucario, Rose. I have a few other pokémon, but you can meet them later."

"Yes, sir. Your Lucario is... very pretty, master."

"Do you... like her?"

"Oh, no sir! We only just met! I don't know whether I like her or not. If you want me to, then I shall, however."

"You seem to be extremely obedient. I like that, but I think you need to loosen up a little, Osorro. You don't have to call me 'sir' or 'master', although it makes me feel... authoritative, and respected. My name's Mark. Just call me that."

"Yes, si- Mark."

"Heh heh. I like you." He reached down to pat Osorro's head, but the dog avoided his touch. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, Mark. My old master liked to be a jerk to me. I usually assume he's going to hurt me every time he puts his-well, any part of his body, really-near me. You're not going to hurt me, are you?"

"Of course not! And I hate being a jerk to people!" he said firmly, then got down on the ground and hugged Osorro around his neck.

"Wha- why are you doing this? I didn't do anything to deserve this!"

"You don't need to do anything to deserve a **_hug_**. I know we just met, but that's no reason to show you friendship."

"I... don't understand."

"Well, I'll make you understand."

"Ahh! Don't- say that!"

"Huh?"

"My old master always said that to me, right before punishing me about something I said I didn't understand."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"It's fine, really. Excuse me for snapping at you."

"Your previous trainer must've been pretty bad to you."

"He was, but that made me strong."

"Mmm... I don't think so. Powerful? Maybe. But strong? No way. You may be the strongest pokémon on my team, but power from an unfriendly source will allow you to be broken. I need to rewrite your meaning of strength... but how?"

"Umm... a word, Mark?" Rose said.

"Yes, Rose. Just a second, Osorro."

Mark and Rose stepped to the side. "This Mightyena is hiding several strong feelings away. Whoever his previous master was, he must've been much more than a 'jerk'. I can sense that he's had a very bad past... probably abusive. I agree, he needs lots of love, but... it's going to take much more than being friendly to cure him. He'll need constant attention, and you'll need to satisfy his every whim. At least for a while. Got it?"

"Alright."

"On top of that, he's a dark-type, right? This Omber you told us about last night will try to get to him, so you'd better be careful."

"Good point. I think I'll basically spend the rest of the day with him alone, bonding and stuff. Our relationship is most important for him. Would you be willing to stay in my pocket for today?"

"Of course. Just don't try to oversell your friendship with him, either."

"Kay. Seeya later, then." Mark got out a pokéball and drew Rose inside. "Okay, Osorro. Sorry about that."

"Were you two talking about me?" he asked.

"Yeah. Nothing bad, of course."

"I guess I'm gonna go in your pocket, too, aren't I?"

"Not today. You can stay out. I think we should spend some time together."

"Really? O-Okay."

"I've got some things to buy right now, but we can do whatever you want later. Okay?"

"Oh... okay. So what do you need to do?"

"Just buy some battling supplies. I'm also pretty hungry, so lunch as well."

"Alright." The began walking down the road, towards a pokémart.

"So where did you come from?"

"Well, my grandparents were from Hoenn, but somehow my parents had me in the Soti region."

"Way up north?"

"Yes... until master **_Jimbo_** caught me..."

"Was that your old master?"

"Yes. I don't want to talk about him."

"Okay. But can I ask how you got away from him?"

"I actually don't... remember. All I remember was losing a big pokémon battle against... some fighting-type... and then, I blacked out. When I woke up, my entire body hurt and some creepy guy was holding me... it was really hot there. He was nice, I guess. Didn't really have an opinion about him."

"Hmm... Interesting."

"So who are your other pokémon?"

"I have a Pidgey named Nimbus and a Vulpix named Nova. Nova has a huge crush on Rose, and Nimbus is, uh... kind of mischievous. But kind of suspicious, too... I don't really know what his deal is."

"I see. So... uh, is there any particular reason you're becoming a trainer?"

"Yeah. My dad lost his job, and now I have to raise money as a trainer."

"Oh. I'm sorry about that."

"Ah! Here's the pokémart." They went inside. There was a featured sale at the front for a special type of badge that tracks pokémon and ensures ownership to others. "Hmm... could be useful. How much is- wait, $15 each?"

"That sounds pretty good for a tracking device."

"Yeah, I guess. I suppose I should buy six, right?"

"Uh... sure. I don't know." he grabbed a pack of six badges and an installable pokédex app for it. "So how much is that altogether?"

"This team pack is a little cheaper, so it's $80."

"Is that a lot?"

"Not if I put it to good use." Mark purchased a couple potions (which were slightly less expensive than in the last town) but could not manage more than four. "I think we need more money."

"I can help you with that."

"You want to battle?"

"It would be my honor, master."

"Very well. I believe there's a gym here. I don't want to utterly destroy the place, but we could battle a few guys there... I suppose. They're always ready and willing to pay out money to opposing trainers."

"I have single-handedly defeated everyone in the Soti Psychic Gym. I don't think whatever gym this is could be that much trouble."

"Whoa. Impressive."

"Well, I mean, psychics are powerless against darks, so... not really."

"Yeah. Would you like me to put this badge on you now or later?"

"Now, I suppose."

"Well, let's find some lunch first. It'll give me time to mess around with the app."

"App?"

"On my pokédex. It can do a ton of stuff, and I can add more 'apps' to it, like this one, which is supposed to track you on a GPS. Is there anywhere or anything you want to eat?"

"Someplace with meat. Us pokémon can eat anything, but I prefer no plants."

"Ah. Yes, of course. Will a sandwich shop work?"

"Yes, as long as I can get a sandwich with all meat."

"Don't worry, I don't like veggies on my sandwiches, either. I think I saw one on my way into town. Let's go there, shall we?"

"Alright."

It took about ten minutes, but they were able to order some delicious meaty sandwiches and sit outside to eat by noon.

"This is very good... thank you for buying this for me."

"No problem."

"...My old trainer would never do anything like this for me... not even if I pleased him very much. All I would get is a bowl of dog food once a day... and maybe a small hunk of meat for defeating a rival trainer. But you, Mark... you did this although I have done nothing for you so far."

"It is my pleasure to please." Osorro got out of his chair and came over to Mark, then nudged at his master's leg.

"Thank you, Mark."

"Aww..." Mark scratched Osorro's head and brushed his long, black fur all the way down his big, black back. Out of the limited muscles in his canine face, Mark saw Osorro smile. "You're really sweet for a big hunting dog."

"Then so be it. I cannot thank you for all you have done today."

"Well, you're welcome. Now let's try this badge on you."

"Okay... I mean, yes, Mark."

" 'Okay' is fine. It's not like I'm royalty. Just be yourself around me. Say what you feel is appropriate. There are times to perk up and be formal, but around me, be you, Osorro."

"Okay." Mark smiled. Then he put a little, turquoise, paper-thin, hexagonal badge on Osorro's shoulder. "Did you put it on yet?"

"Yes. Can't you feel it?"

"No, not at all."

"I guess that's a good thing, then. Alright, now I'll just pop this little sucker into my 'dex..." The app installed, which didn't take long. Soon a little turquoise dot appeared on the pokédex's GPS. "Well, there's you," Mark said. "Can I... somehow label you?" he asked himself. He tapped the dot on the screen with his finger and a tiny keyboard appeared, along with a text box that said, "Name?" "I guess that was it." He typed in O-S-O-R-R-O. "Is that right?"

"I don't know. I can't read."

"Very well." He hit the ENTER button, and a new text box opened up asking for the trainer's last name. C-L-E-M-E-N-T. He hit the ENTER button again, and suddenly some words electronically fizzled into view on the badge. "Well, I guess you're a part of the family, now."

"Why's that?"

"Your badge... it says 'Osorro Clement'."

"Is that your last name?"

"Yup. This badge is very strange... it's like it's not even there. I can barely feel it on your fur."

"And I still don't notice it."

"I wonder if I..." Mark tugged on it. It clung to Osorro, and he whined a little. "Oh, I'm sorry! Did that hurt?"

"Just a little. It's fine."

"Well, that should warn others not to try to catch you if we're separated for some reason."

"What about your other pokémon?"

"They can wait."

"I'd kind of like to meet them."

"Oh. Okay." Mark brought out the other three teammates.

"What's up, Mark? And who's this Mightyena?" Nova asked enthusiastically.

"Guys, this is Osorro. He's our newest member of the group."

"Be very kind to him, guys. He's been through a lot. And don't mention anything about dark-types or last night," Rose thought to Nova and Nimbus.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Osorro," Nimbus said. "I would shake your paw, but... you know."

"Hi, Osy! Nice to meet you! I hope we'll become best friends!" Nova said.

"Uh... nice to meet you two, as well. I met Rose earlier," Osorro responded.

"So, what's going on?" Rose asked. "You need our help?"

"Nope. I actually brought y'all out to put **_these_** on you." Mark said, and showed them three different-colored badges.

"What are those?"

"Not only are they nametags essentially, but they're tracking devices as well! They show both your name and my name, so other trainers won't capture you if you get lost or need to leave for some reason."

"Neat! But... that sounds kind of annoying, don't you think?"

"Osorro doesn't seem to feel it at all. And neither do I."

"Oh! Okay."

"You have a specific color you want?"

"Blue, I guess."

"I have just one... I bought six." He placed the badge on Rose's shoulder. "See? Nothing, right?"

"Hmm! Interesting."

"How about you, Nova? What color do you want?"

"Red!" Nova said. "Red for fire!"

"Alright, here you go..." He attached the red badge to the fox's shoulder. "Nimbus?"

"I don't care what color. Just not that sickening color of your pokédex," Nimbus responded.

"Huh? I like that color! I'll just give you a green one, then." Mark placed the green badge on his chest, since there wasn't really any other place to put it.

"Alright! Now, let me just enter your names." He punched in the names of his pokémon, each followed by 'Clement'. He then retracted them into their tiny cages. "So, what would you like to do now, Osorro?"

"I'm not sure. Just being with you has made me feel better," the Mightyena said. "I would like to be closer to you still, Mark."

"What... are you suggesting?"

"Master... may I... sit in your lap?"

"Sure, Osorro," Mark said, a little nervous due to his dog's immense size, then wiped his pants clean of crumbs and Osorro carefully lumbered his giant body onto him. "Your fur is quite silky," he wheezed.

"Thank you, Mark. I'm not too heavy, am I?"

"Nope! No, I'm fine."

"You are so _**loving**_, Mark. I'm glad you are my master." That comment reminded Mark of the Gardevoir's prediction (the one about him possibly not loving a girl), and he leapt up out of the chair, sending Osorro falling onto his side. Mark simply turned away, and did not help Osorro up off the ground. "What was that, Mark?!" he sounded angry at first, but then became submissive. "Oh- did I upset you? I'm so sorry, master!"

"Listen... you don't... love me, do you?" he asked, uncaringly.

"What? No, not- why do you ask? You are a male human. I would never."

"...Nevermind. I'm really sorry I hurt you; I was being selfish." Mark knelt down and rubbed Osorro's side, where he had fallen.

"Something is wrong, Mark. What is it?"

"Nothing. Just a prediction... A fortune-teller said I would find new love, and he said it might be a guy. The fortune-teller was a Gardevoir, so I believed him."

"Maybe he just thought that because you were so loving to me, in a friendly way."

"Hmm... yeah, I guess you're right! I'm surprised you didn't get angry with me, though. Thanks for that."

"My old trainer taught me to think of myself as worthless, and only consider his welfare. And of course he hurt me to get me to say that I was, and eventually I believed it."

"Well, it's important to consider everyone else's feelings, but you are anything but worthless. Without you, this Jimbo guy is a lot less than he is with you, I betcha. Your welfare is just as important as mine, so I'm sorry I hurt you."

"I see... I think. I want to believe you."

"You can. You should. Everyone matters, Osorro."

-A big passage of time-

Mark and Osorro had walked around pretty much half the city and made about $40 from battles, even though Osorro had won every one of them. They had just finished having an early dinner, and were taking a hike up to a very scenic ledge of Mount Arma, the mountain Rose had seen through the window earlier, just as the sky was about to turn orange.

"How much longer do we have to walk? My paws hurt real bad."

"Not much longer. My feet hurt, too," said Mark to show some empathy.

"I've been hurting all day, and I'm super tired."

"All day? Even when I met you?"

"No, but... you know what I mean. Ever since that one ice battle! I still feel cold, and my legs ache!"

"Osorro, you need to calm down a little."

"Oh- yes, of course. I'm sorry. I'm just really... grumpy."

"I think you're just tired. We both are."

"Yes, you are correct. I just need some rest."

"Oh! There it is!"

"There what is?" Mark ran forward and sat down. It was a little difficult for Osorro to see, but he sat down on one of two wooden benches. "That's it? A wooden bench?"

"No, but that's a perk. It's the sunset! From the most open location in all of Andara!"

"We walked... for two hours... up a mountain... to see the sunset? I can't even see color at all!"

"What?"

"Dogs are completely colorblind, Mark!"

"Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't know. I just wanted to make this a special surprise for you, but-"

"You didn't know? Well, excuse me, princess! Maybe you should've studied in school a little better!"

"Alright, Osorro. Now you go too far. This is a silly argument, and you're being foolishly disrespectful to your master."

"Disrespect? What do _**you**_ know of disrespect?"

"Osorro-"

"I was beaten into obeying every word Jimbo said to me! He foolishly disrespected everything about my life, if it even was a life!" Osorro paused, but Mark said nothing. He could tell Osorro needed to let out all his gathered anger. A few tears started to leak out of his eyes. "And he didn't just beat me with his hands, he bleached me, too! I looked ridiculously ugly with parts of my fur looking pure white, not my natural black fur! I also smelled like smoke from his damn cigarettes! He insulted me obscenely, made me feel like a piece of shit, insulted my family, my species, my entire dark denomination! I was bred to be loyal. I **_was_** loyal. But what do I get? A hard smack to the face every time I woke from losing a battle! Like battling didn't hurt enough! Fuck Jimbo, fuck my life!"

There was a **_REALLY_** long pause. "Osorro... I didn't know all those things... and I feel eternal sympathy for you. But you need to realize that you don't have a reason to be angry anymore. Jimbo is gone for good. You'll never have to see him again." Osorro said nothing. "Osorro... you need to forget Jimbo completely. For the good of my party, for the good of _**you**_."

"Yeah? How am I supposed to do that? He did so many things to me!"

"First, you need to calm down."

Osorro sighed annoyedly, but agreed to. "...Okay."

"Now you need to find closure. Say to yourself, 'Jimbo is gone'. But don't just say it, you have to _**feel**_ it. Believe _**yourself**_. Trust _**yourself**_. He has no power over you."

"What is it exactly that you are doing by making me do this?"

"I'm trying to _**heal**_ you. Now just do it."

"...Alright," Osorro said, then closed his eyes. "Jimbo is gone. Jimbo is gone..." he went on for a few more moments.

"Are you ready yet? Did it sink in?"

"Yes. He's gone."

"You're going to hate doing this, but it's the only way to truly heal you and improve everything."

"What is it?"

"You need to forgive Jimbo for _**everything**_ he did to you."

"WHAT?! No way can I do that!"

"Osorro, remember. He's gone. You'll never see him again. He didn't damage you permanently, so you have nothing to hold on him."

"But... it's so much... no one can forgive that."

"This step is most important. I know like it seems like a lot, but you can do it. I know that if you don't, you're going to be unpleasant a lot of the time. Even if you don't show it."

"Do you even know what you're talking about? How do you know I _**need**_ to forgive him?"

"Because my sister was raped and murdered because of someone I didn't even know. I loved my sister, and that man, whoever he was, **_did_** permanently damage **_both_** of us, not to mention everyone else in my family. It took time, but I was able to forgive him. I certainly wouldn't like him very much, but vengeful thoughts leave people unpleasant a lot of the time."

Osorro looked at Mark, stunned. "I... didn't know that. I am sorry for you. And I do believe you, and... I will try... to forgive."

"Good. If you really, truly mean it, then it will be easier than you think."

"I... I... forgive... master Jimbo... for all he has done... because he is gone, and Mark is my new master. Mark is my new master. Mark is my new master! It all makes sense now! You and the rest of my team are all that matter to me now."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. I feel a million times better! Oh, thank you, Mark! You are truly wise and smart!"

"Aww, don't flatter me. It takes great... strength to forgive."

"I feel so much happier! I love you, Mark! You are my greatest friend!" Osorro turned and gave Mark a big doggy kiss on the cheek.

"Aww, Osorro... I love you, too. Not... romantically, though."

"Never. I love you as a friend, a best friend, nothing more."

"Same here." Mark then hugged Osorro around his neck. "I'm glad I could help."

"Thank you so much." They continued to hug until about a minute later. "The sunset still seems kind of bland... but I don't care that much."

"Yeah."

"I must admit to you, master, and you might not like hearing it, but I did not completely trust or believe you until now. Even when you gave me that delicious lunch, I thought you were simply raising my reputation of you. But now I see that you were telling the truth the whole time. I'm sorry, master."

"After you told me about Jimbo, I thought you would be thinking like that. It's difficult to replace fear with trust."

"Well, I'm just glad I can finally relax."

"Relax? What are you talking about? You're still going to fight for me, right?"

"Yes. I mean I'm glad I can relax because I know there is no better trainer I could end up with than the one I have right now."

"I get it. I don't know if I'm the best trainer you could have, but-"

"No, Mark. You are."

Mark blushed a little. He'd never been thought of so highly before. They sat there silently for about ten minutes, Osorro enjoying the closure and love his master gave him, and Mark enjoying the orange sky and wall of fur covering the right side of his face and chest. Then the silence was broken. Someone came walking up the mountain. It was a boy and two pokemon, one of which was a Buizel and the other a Zoroark. Rose and Nova would've recognized them, but Mark had no idea who they were. So he asked the boy, "Hello. I'm Mark. How're you doing?"

"Hello! We're doing just fine. I was just taking my two very best pokemon up to see the sunset. Hold on, did you say your name was Mark?"

"Yeah. What's so special about that?"

"Nothing, just... do you have a female Lucario, by chance? Named Rose?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

"I talked to her earlier today. She said her trainer's name was Mark, and she was with a Vulpix."

"Yes, that's Nova! He's mine, too. I should probably introduce you to Osorro here as well."

"Hello, Osorro."

"Hello, um... just a minute, what's your name?" Osorro said.

"Oh, excuse me. My name's Lance."

"Yes, that's the trainer Rose was telling me about," Mark continued, "She suggested that we meet up. What a coincidence!"

As Mark and Lance continued to chat, Osorro and Rue began eyeing each other, studying each other, noticing similarities and differences between each other, and slowly becoming a little... Attracted to each other. Finally, they got up the nerve to get up and talk to the other, but they did at precisely the same time. Being generous, Osorro sat down to signal that it was okay for Rue to come to him. Unfortunately, she did the exact same for him. After several more ups and downs and giggles, they both just screwed it and came together in between the benches (without interrupting their trainers.

"Hello. I'm... Osorro."

"Hello Osorro. My name's... Rue."

"Why do I feel... Like we're so similar?" Mark brought out Rose in the midst of his conversation.

"Well, we are both dark... It's in our blood to think similarly."

"Yes... You know, I think you look real pretty," he said, almost by instinct.

"Really? Most other Zoroarks think I'm a little wide."

"Really? I didn't notice anything wrong with the way you look." (This was a bit of an under exaggeration because Rue was actually a little overweight for the average female Zoroark.)

"Thank you. You look quite pretty yourself."

"Me? Are you sure? I could've sworn I saw a bleach stain on my back the last time I checked... You don't see any unnatural white on me, do you?"

"No, it's blacker than mine. Why a bleach stain? Sounds pretty serious."

"My old master. He used to bleach my fur when I screwed up. It hurt real bad, too, but that's okay, because he's out of my life now, and I forgive him."

"He sounds stupid. And bitchy."

"He was. Both stupid and bitchy."

They both chuckled a little bit.

"Hey, Osorro! Get ready to battle!" Mark said.

"Rue, you too!" Lance said.

"What? What's going on?" Osorro asked.

"We're gonna have a one-on-one battle between you and Rue! Dark vs. dark! No stakes, just for fun. You can do just one more battle, right?" The two dark-types instantly knew they did not want to battle each other.

"Yes, but... I don't want to battle Rue."

"Oh, come on, Osorro! I think she'll be a good challenge for you."

"Well, alright. I can't oppose my master."

Rue, being the female, felt the same way but had less of a problem with whooping up on Osorro.

They got into position on the wide ledge of Mount Arma as Rose and Stanley watched from the benches. The mood was set and birds and the sun was almost down fromthe top of the sky.

The battle began. Rue stood still, with one leg propped up by the ball of her foot and her arms behind her back, batting her hairband. Osorro was a little confused, but suspected she was just trying to psyche him out by looking sexy. He lunged forward, running at top speed, ready to bite her. Just as he jumped at her, she disappeared and he fell on his face. She reappeared behind him. Luckily, he'd foreseen she would do something like that and quickly dodged a punch from her. To counter, he did a low kick and somehow she was not able to avoid it. So she, too, fell on her face. Both got up. But when Osorro turned around to expect to see Rue, all he saw was... Two Marks?

"That's against the rules, Rue! No fair!" the Mark on the right said.

"Wait, no it's not!" the left Mark said. "I mean-"

"Osorro, I'm the real Mark! She's trying to fool you!"

"No I'm not! I'm the real one!" Lance covered his mouth as he laughed. He had seen her shape-shift into Mark's form.

Although Rose had not seen Rue transform, she used aura to find out which one Rue was. "Osorro, the one on the right is Rue," she thought to him.

"No! This battle is between me and Rue! I don't need your help!" Osorro barked. Osorro almost wanted to lose so he wouldn't have to hurt Rue. But could he stand losing to a girl? Of course he could. I'm just joking.

Osorro ran at the Mark on the left, but then pounced on the Mark on the right. At first he thought he'd screwed up as he held him on the ground, but that Mark grinned slyly and then transformed into Rue. Osorro pressed down hard and fast on her stomach to weaken her. She could see the regret in his eyes as he got off of her and waited for her to stand (as that is considered respectful). He tried to pounce again, but she jumped high into the air. When she landed, Osorro's head hurt extremely bad and he could barely stand up himself.

Rewound and in slo-mo, when Rue jumped, she also grabbed hold of her pearl hairband, pulled it off (which made her hair spread out wildly and look more intimidating), and threw it straight at Osorro's head. The blue ball was extremely heavy and nearly cracked the poor Mightyena's skull.

Unknown to Rue, Osorro wasn't as affected by the impact unlike its other victims. His years with Jimbo hadn't made him very strong, but they made him tough. So he just lumbered around, pretending to be in a daze. As Rue prepared a ball of dark energy in her palm, which was intended to be for the finishing blow, she walked closer to the apparently stumbling Osorro. Right as she was about to touch him, Osorro lunged not at her but at her fanned out hair behind her. He bit a good clump of it and pulled her to the ground. The back of her head hit the rocky surface and she lost consciousness. Enemy Zoroark fainted!

"Wow... Impressive. Few have beaten Rue recently," Lance said.

"That was really amazing, Osorro! Good job!" Mark yelled. But Osorro hung his head down in shame and guilt. "What's wrong?"

"Rue... I didn't want to fight Rue... I hurt her. Now she probably dislikes me."

"You didn't... Oohhh... I understand. You didn't want to fight Rue... well, I'm sorry I made you."

"It's okay. I'm sure she'll forgive me... maybe. My head kind of hurts."

"Yeah, what was that all about?"

Osorro did not answer. Instead, he went over to Rue's spherical hairband. As she regained consciousness, Osorro picked up the band in his mouth and dropped in her hand. "No hard feelings, right?"

She smiled sincerely. "Nope. No hard feelings." She began to gather her hair together again and bind it. They all went to sit back down. Because it is difficult to explain how they were placed on the benches, this visual may help.

B1[Rue|Osorro|Mark] B2[Lance|Rose|Stanley]

"So... Rose tells me you're heading to Greenstone as well," Mark said to Lance.

"Well, I'm really going home to Rockfall City, but Greenstone is on the way there."

"So they must've had some place to store their fire stones without marauders and barbarians and stuff get to them easily."

"You think there's still a cache of stones inside the mountain?"

"As I said, it's an ancient myth. But I still think it'd be cool to check it out. I do know that there is in fact a cave entrance near the summit of this volcano, so maybe it'll lead somewhere."

"So I guess we're pretty much friends by now, right?"

"I guess."

"Would you like to go there together? To Greenstone?"

"I suppose so, but my mom said to be cautious of strangers."

"Well, yeah, but we know each other a little already. And besides, I know I'm a good guy. Tell him, Rose."

"Oh? Yes, of course. Mark is an excellent friend and you definitely don't need to be cautious of him," she said.

"See? You gotta believe a pokemon."

"Hmm... Okay. But don't try to take any of my stuff, 'cause I'm _not_ gonna be happy. Okay?" Lance said.

"I wouldn't dare do such a thing."

"Alright..."

"Hey, I just remembered: is there any chance you have a fire stone with you? Nova, my Vulpix, needs one to evolve."

"Yeah, I know him. Seeing how they are extremely rare, no, I do not. However, this brings up a particular myth we learned about in school. It is said that the ancient tribe that once occupied this area had a secret temple inside this very volcano. Not only that, but this tribe had a certain liking for Ninetales.

"Sounds... perfect!"

"I don't know... what if there's nothing down there? Or we get lost?"

"We can't get lost if Rose comes with. She can see pretty much everything."

"Really? Lucarios' aura abilities are that powerful? That's pretty impressive. But either way I don't want to go down there if all we're gonna find is a bunch of rocks."

"I admire your confidence. But that's actually the entire reason why we're going down there."

"Oh, right. Of course."

"Come on, what else are you gonna do?"

"Not much... I guess I'd be willing to go with you... to help Nova."

"That's the spirit! Thanks!"

The sun was no longer visible. It had just dove below the lake.

"It's starting to get dark," Lance said, "We should probably start heading back."

"Yeah... dark..." Mark was reminded yet again of his experience the previous night. "Wait a minute, guys. There's something I need to tell you before it gets too late. Especially you, Osorroooo...?" When Mark turned to face him, he and Rue had scooched really close together, and had leaned their heads on each other. "Osorro? Why are you and Rue like that?"

Osorro perked up and devoted all his attention to Mark. "Huh? Oh... well, I guess it turns out... that me and Rue like each other. A lot."

"Oh, so now you're boy and girlfriend?"

"...Yeah. Is that okay with you, master?"

"Well that escalated quickly. But yeah, I don't mind. We can talk about this later, because you two need to pay close attention to me. This is super important. Okay?"

"Yes, Mark."

"Hey, wait. I'm not completely cool with this," Lance said. "What happens when we have to split up? I don't want to give up Rue, and I'm sure they definitely won't want to separate."

"Oh... I see your point. If she really means that much to you, I could give you Osorro. We just met, like, today," Mark replied.

"Okay. That'll work. Sorry, continue."

"Right. Last night, I was attacked by some sort of dark-ghost pokemon I had never heard of before. It wrapped me up with itself, but it was like a shadow. Nova had to burn both it and me to get it off. But before that, I mentally spoke with some pokemon named Omber. He-or, it, I don't know for sure-said he wants all dark-type pokemon, even hybrids, for taking over the world. I'm not exactly sure how how is so sure he get his grasp around them _all,_ but I think it has to do with his shadow minions, or those dark-ghost pokemon. So if either you or I see one, Lance, we need to make sure Osorro and Rue are safely in their pokeballs. Okay? I was nearly killed... or, rather... destroyed by Omber." Lance was shuddering in fear.

"Omber?" Osorro asked.

"Yes, Omber. Was he your roommate in college?"

"What?"

"It's an old joke. Carry on."

"Rue and I know who he is. He's like our king."

"Do you know anything else about him?"

"Yes, all dark-types do, but... It'd be extremely treacherous of me to talk about him with... anyone, really. And it would be treacherous of Rue not to stop me."

"He wants to take over the world! Isn't that bad?"

Osorro turned to Rue and they started to whisper and mumble to each other. After it was apparent that they had made up their minds about something, Osorro continued. "Okay, we've decided."

"On what?"

"We'll tell you everything, master. On any normal day, no way. But from what we can see, Omber is acting really weird.

"Omber lives in a separate dimension than this one. To find that his shadows are searching around in the overworld for pokemon like us... it doesn't make sense.

"Omber's 'shadow minions' as you call them are really just an extension of himself. They can stretch as far as he wants to, as long as it stays within another shadow."

"Sounds kind of like Shikamaru."

"...Yeah, don't know what that is. Anyway, his only royal rule is that he can't cross between dimensions, even if it were to kill him to stay. And his shadows can't pass through the dimensional gate."

"Dimensional gate?"

"Yeah. It's only openable from the other side, and honestly they don't really have a need for one anyway. That being said, to know that Omber has violated his one and only rule... I think he's starting to go a little crazy. We're supposed to do everything he says, but I don't think it'd be a good idea to do that anymore."

"How would he tell you to do anything? He's in another dimension, right?"

"He has many great powers. Not necessarily good powers, but great ones. Sending out a message to us in our dreams would be easy."

"Alright, I'm sorry, guys," Lance interrupted. "But could you, like, re-explain everything? I didn't catch any of that."

Rue sighed. "Alright. Omber is our king. We obey king. King shouldn't leave the castle. If king leaves castle, king can't be trusted. If king can't be trusted, we don't obey king," she said.

"Ah... okay. That sort of makes sense. So you two are going to stay with us?"

"Of course," Osorro said. "You two are our masters. We love you. We probably wouldn't obey Omber even if he wasn't all acting strange."

"Oh... thank you... But hold on. Omber didn't really leave the castle, did he?"

"As I said, the only place his minions can't extend past is the Gate because it's always closed. He must be somewhere here in the overworld."

"Ah."

"Mark. If what you say is true, we'd better get in our pokeballs really soon. His shadows could jump us at any time, and there'd be nothing we could do about it."

"How could these minions possibly get you to follow them? You agreed to work with us." Mark asked.

"Yes, but I have no idea what might happen if we try to oppose Omber. They may threaten to destroy our minds like you, or they may torture us until we are forced to do anything. They might even torture you.

"Okay." Mark said before both he and Lance stashed their dark-types. They began to walk down the mountain.

"Were you serious about the Shadow Minion? What it did to you?" Lance asked nervously.

"Yes. Believe me, I'm scared too. I think we'll be safe if we just be on the lookout for them at night and travel during the day."

"Okay. I think I can deal with that."

"I don't think we'll see any for a while. I've only seen just that one in my life, so either Omber has just started his so-called conquest or he doesn't have many Shadows."

"I see. That makes me feel a little safer."

"And besides, that was at like two o'clock in the morning."

"Ah. Um... can I ask you how old you are? You look a lot older than me."

"You want to take a guess?"

"Uh... maybe sixteen?"

"Nope, just fifteen. I'd say you're maybe thirteen or fourteen."

"Yep, I'm fourteen. I hope I don't annoy you; you can just tell me if I need to shut up or something."

"I don't think I will. I think most people about my age are all the same in mindset. But if you were younger than thirteen I'd probably treat you like you were younger than me."

"Okay. Good to know."

"Stanley's been pretty quiet this whole time."

"I think he just isn't getting much attention. He's usually really happy. Aren't you, boy?" The weasel turned his head away. "Oh, come on! I'll always be your best friend!" Lance then picked him up and put him on his shoulders. Stanley resisted at first, but hugged his head and smiled."

"Can he even talk?"

"Of course I can talk," Stanley said. But it was no mystery as to why he was so quiet. His voice was extremely high for any male. Not girly, just... high. "And don't make fun of my voice."

"I wasn't planning on it. Exactly how old are you?"

"I'm... twelve."

"Remarkable..."

"What do you mean, 'remarkable'?"

"Nothing. So, Lance. I'm guessing you have more experience as a trainer than me. Do you have a full team?"

"Yes, but I don't know about experience... I've only been a trainer for a month now."

"Oh, yeah, that's way more than me. I started just this week."

"Oh, wow. I would've suspected you've been training for years. Lucario are really rare, so I thought you'd been searching for a long time until you finally got Rose."

"No, she actually found and saved me. She was my first."

"Wow... You're one of the luckiest guys I know. Is she a good fighter?"

"Oh, she's excellent. She took down a Swampert on her first trainer battle." Rose, who was walking alongside them, loved Mark's comments on her and couldn't help but make a modest pose.

"She sounds scary. To battle, I mean."

"So what are your other pokemon?"

"I have an Eevee that I want to evolve into a Glaceon, but I haven't found anything to help him do so."

"Like what?"

"An ice stone. Apparently they're rarer than fire stones, though. I've looked on Amazon, but they almost never have any in stock. And when they do, they're at least a thousand bucks. They're shipped from Amazon Soti, so maybe they find them up there. Anyway, his name is Ionas, and I put an everstone around his paw so he wouldn't randomly evolve.

"I also have a Mienshao, who is always nice to everyone she meets. I personally think she's quite beautiful. But don't take me the wrong way; I don't, like, like her. Her name is Riko.

"The rarest pokemon I have is a Zangoose named Caliber. He really does like Riko. I think she sort of likes him, but not really. He's really, uh... honest. He just says what he feels, which, although it is usually funny, it is usually the truth warped and exaggerated into a joke. Either way, he's really useful in battle.

"My most recent catch was my Snivy. Well, really, a friend sent her to from back home. The friend I got her from is a total Nintendo freak and named her Zelda of all things."

"Nintendo? Zelda? What're those?"

"What, you've never heard of The Legend of Zelda?"

"Can't say I have. Is that another myth like the temple?"

"No, it's a video game! Surely you've heard of Mario, then."

"Mario, like, the world-famous chef?"

Lance's jaw dropped. "I can't believe it. You're sick. Just sick."

"What?"

"Look, just... nevermind."

"Alright, whatever."

About an hour and a half later, they had told most of each others' life's stories (Lance's was mostly about totally boring private school programs and so-called "Nintendo" games) and they had come to be good friends. Not only that, but they had also made it back to the hotel, and opened the set of doors between their adjacent rooms.

"Alright, well, I'ma go to sleep. I'm so frickin' tired," Mark said.

"Me too. What time is it?"

"Only ten o'clock."

_"Only?_ Man, I don't stay up past eleven on a good day."

"Weak. But, all that walking made me tired, too. So, I shall sleep." Mark released Osorro, Nova, and Nimbus out into the hotel. The two quadrupeds climbed onto Mark's bed, Nimbus roosted on the fan, and Rose slept on her own bed.

"You sleep with your pokemon out?" Lance asked as Mark filed himself under the sheets.

"Yeah. I think it's better because it lets them rest naturally and strengthens our relationships."

"I see. I never realized that. What a good idea!" Lance threw all six of his pokeballs on the ground and his army of animals was exposed to the room. "Attention, team! From now on, we will all be sleeping in the same room!"

"At last! A whole night with Riko! I've been waiting for this day for weeks!" exclaimed Caliber. Riko grew a little 'nuh-uh' face.

"Actually, I was thinking boys would sleep on my bed or the floor, and girls would sleep on the other."

"Why not just use that other room? It's empty, right?"

"No, my friend Mark and his pokemon are sleeping in there. Unless..." Lance peeked in the other room. "Hey, Rose?" he whispered.

"What..?" she asked, half asleep.

"Would it be alright if Riko sleeps on your bed?"

"Sure. Come on in, Riko," she said, then layed on her side and tried to go to sleep. The Mienshao bowed to Lance, said goodnight, and laid down next to Rose.

"So... Mark is your trainer?" Riko asked Rose.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, I should've introduce myself first. We only just met. I'm Riko."

"And I'm Rose. Now, I hate to be rude, but let's meet each other better in the morning."

"Oh... okay. Sorry. Wow... I haven't slept like this... ever, really."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

"I can't believe I've never done this," Lance said as he laid under the covers with his Zangoose. "It feels kind of weird, but... comfortable, too. You're really quite soft, Caliber."

"Mmhmm. Thanks," Caliber said, extremely awkwardly and slightly annoyed.

"What about me?" Stanley asked in the most high-pitched voice his infinitesimally small larynx could conjure.

"You are, too, Stan. Also you, Ionas," Lance replied, trying to satisfy everyone.

"Thanks for this, Lance. These beds are so comfy and warm," the Eevee said.

"I wish I could sleep in your bed, Lance," said his Snivy.

"You're fine with me, Zelda," said Rue. "And besides, you'd have to sleep with three other boys."

"Yeah, okay. You're so soft, too. Lance is all... skinny."

"Aww, thanks, I-"

"GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!" Mark asked politely.

* * *

Summary (for wads):

Mark obtains a Mightyena named Osorro. He seems very obedient, but he doesn't really trust Mark until later that evening when he tells him everything about his past, including his abusive master, Jimbo, and his being in the Soti region up north. Mark purchases some special badges that track pokemon and tell what their names and locations are on his pokedex. Mark also met Lance, a 14-year-old boy with a female Zoroark, Rue (Osorro and she fell in love with each other), a male Buizel, Stanley, a male Eevee, Ionas, a female Mienshao, Riko, a female Snivy, Zelda, and a male Zangoose, Caliber (who likes Riko very much). Lance decides to join Mark on his quest because his home is in Rockfall City. He intends to go there to stay, but... well... he'll soon find that he can't. *spoiler*


End file.
